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A  LIFE  of 


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iru 


ru 


ARCHBISHOP  LAUD 


. 


dl 


m 


LIFE   OF   ARCHBISHOP   LAUD. 


GUJ1L  :   QJUONDAM  AKCH:    CANT  ; 


Lend  me  hut  one  po.crc  tear:, when 

'This  wretched  Pourtraict  ojjust  mi/eric  ,  ' 

I  was   Great  Innovator ,  'tyran  ,  fo? 

To  Church,  vState,  all  Times  shall  call  me  so  . 
£ut  since,  L  'm Thunder— striken  to  the  Ground 
Learnc  how  to  stand,  insult  not  ore  my  wound 


A    LIFE    OF 

ARCHBISHOP    LAUD 


A  ROMISH  RECUSANT." 


"  Laud,  who  stands  upon  the  historic  stage  halfway  between  culprit 
and  martyr." 

Romanes  Lecture,  1892^ 
By  the  Right  Hon.  IV.  E.  Gladstone,  M.P. 


WITH  PORTRAIT  FROM  A  RARE  ENGRAVING  BY  W.  MARSHALL,  PREFIXED 
TO  "THE  RECANTATION  OF  THE  PRELATE  OF  CANTERBURY," 
PRINTED  IN  1641. 


LONDON 
KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  CO.,  LTD. 

PATERNOSTER    HOUSE,    CHARING   CROSS    ROAD. 
1894 


The  Author  "wishes  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that 
his  unqualified  application  of  the  word  Archbishop,  and 
other  ecclesiastical  titles,  to  the  clergy  of  the  Established 
Church  of  England,  in  no  way  implies  any  recognition 
on  his  part  of  the-  validity  of  Anglican  orders. 


PREFACE. 

I  VENTURE  to  claim  for  the  following  biography  that  it  is 
one  of  the  least  original  ever  written.  A  great,  if  not  the 
greater,  part  of  it  consists  of  extracts  from  the  writings  of 
others,  chiefly  contemporaries  of  its  subject,  and  bearing 
directly  or  indirectly  upon  his  history.  Where  I  felt  so 
disposed,  I  have  written  on  my  own  account,  and  written 
freely ;  in  other  places,  I  have  introduced  my  authorities  and 
stood  by  while  they  told  their  own  story  in  their  own  words. 
I  hesitated  long  as  to  whether  I  should  call  this  book  a 
"  Life  of  Laud,"  or  "  Materials  for  a  Life  of  Laud,"  and  it 
was  only  the  clumsiness  of  the  latter  title  which  deterred  me 
from  making  use  of  it. 

In  making  quotations  from  old  books  or  manuscripts,  it  is 
a  question  whether  the  better  course  is  to  give  them  as  they 
stand,  or  in  modern  spelling  and  phraseology.  Some  critics 
object  to  the  former  as  wearisome,  others  to  the  latter  as  too 
commonly  inaccurate.  I  have  adopted  both  ;  but,  for  the 
most  part,  I  have  given  the  literal  rendering ;  partly  because 
the  English  of  the  period  with  which  I  had  to  deal  was  not 
so  different  from  our  own  as  to  present  difficulties,  or  prove 
unpalatable  to  the  modern  reader,  and  partly  because  a 
moderniser,  like  a  translator,  rarely  succeeds  in  leaving  all 
its  original  freshness  and  force  in  the  work  which  he 
manipulates. 

I  anticipate  accusations  from  my  critics  of  having  gone  too 
far  afield  in  my  attempts  to  throw  side-lights  upon  the 
career  of  Laud.  It  may  be  that  on  this  count  I  am  guilty. 
If  so,  my  excuse  must  be  that  I  have  sinned  in  an  honest 
endeavour  to  illustrate  his  life  and  character  by  recalling  to 


vi  Preface. 

the  minds  of  my  readers  the  times  in  which  he  lived  and  the 
people  with  whom  he  was  brought  into  contact. 

All  this  has  been  easy  to  say:  I  must  now  tread  upon 
more  delicate  ground.  A  life  of  a  Protestant  Archbishop 
written  by  a  Catholic  and  a  convert  is  likely  to  be  looked 
upon  by  the  majority  of  English  readers  as  an  attack  from 
the  enemy ;  moreover,  an  idea  still  largely  prevails  in  this 
country  that  Catholics  are  never  to  be  trusted  when  they 
deal  with  historical  subjects,  and  that  converts  are  invariably 
bitter.  As  to  the  two  last  mentioned  imputations,  while  I 
should  be  sorry  to  think  it  necessary  to  reply  to  the  first  of 
them,  I  have  something  to  say  about  the  second.  A  convert 
from  the  Anglican  to  the  Catholic  Church  may  regard  the 
establishment  which  he  has  repudiated  in  one  of  two  lights. 
He  may  either  look  at  it  with  feelings  of  resentment  as  an 
heretical  body  which  long  kept  him  away  from  what  he 
believes  to  be  the  true  Church,  by  counterfeiting  its  authority, 
its  doctrines,  and  its  ceremonies ;  or  he  may  see  in  it  an 
heretical  body,  it  is  true,  but  one  retaining  many  valuable 
vestiges,  traditions,  and  principles  of  the  ancient  Church,  to 
which,  by  the  grace  of  God,  they  led  him  when  followed  to 
their  logical  conclusions,  and  he  may  reflect  that  whither 
they  have  led  him,  they  may  also  lead  others. 

In  attacking  what  they  consider  the  errors  of  Anglicanism, 
Catholics,  like  other  combatants,  cannot  fight  in  silken  gloves  ; 
the  weapons  they  use,  be  they  logic,  invective,  or  even  satire, 
may  be  sharp  and  may  cause  pain  ;  but  in  order  to  prove  that 
the  feelings  of  Catholics  towards  Anglicans  need  not  neces 
sarily  be  bitter,  I  will  copy  some  words  used  by  the  head  of 
the  Catholic  Church  upon  earth.  I  have  already  said  that 
much  of  this  book  will  be  found  to  consist  of  quotations ;  let 
the  first  be  from  the  writings  of  the  Holy  Father.1 

In  a  letter  to  the  English  Bishops,  dated  27th  November 
1885,  Pope  Leo  XIII.  says  :— 

1  If  any  quotation  should  appear  on  the  title  page  and  it  should  be  objected 
that  it  took  precedence  of  the  Pope's,  I  would  reply  that  usually,  and  certainly 
in  the  present  instance,  the  title  page  is  not  the  first  to  be  written,  but  absolutely 
the  last. 


Preface.  vii 

"  In  your  country  of  Great  Britain  we  know  that  besides 
yourselves  very  many  of  your  nation  are  not  a  little  anxious 
about  religious  education.  They  do  not  in  all  things  agree 
with  us ;  nevertheless,  they  see  how  important,  for  the  sake 
of  society  and  of  men  individually,  is  the  preservation  of  that 
Christian  wisdom  which  your  forefathers  received  through  St 
Augustine  from  our  predecessor,  St  Gregory  the  Great ; 
which  wisdom  the  violent  tempests  that  came  afterwards 
have  not  entirely  scattered.  There  are,  as  we  know,  at  this 
day  many  of  an  excellent  disposition  of  mind  who  are  dili 
gently  striving  to  retain  what  they  can  of  the  ancient  faith, 
and  who  bring  forth  many  and  great  fruits  of  charity.  As 
often  as  we  think  of  this  so  often  are  we  deeply  moved,  for 
we  love  with  a  paternal  charity  that  island,  which  was  not 
undeservedly  called  the  Mother  of  Saints,  and  we  see  in  the 
disposition  of  mind  of  which  we  have  spoken  the  greatest 
hope,  and  as  it  were  a  pledge,  of  the  welfare  and  prosperity 
of  the  British  people." 

From  the  writings  of  a  Pope  I  will  turn  to  those  of  a 
Prince  of  the  Church  and  an  honoured  Englishman.  In 
1890,  Cardinal  Vaughan  (then  Bishop  of  Salford)  wrote 
in  EnglancTs  Conversion  by  the  Power  of  Prayer  (pp.  8,  9) 
that  the  Anglican  Establishment  had  "changed  its  temper 
and  attitude.  Its  bishops,  ministers,  and  people  are  busily 
engaged  in  ignoring  or  denouncing  those  very  articles  which 
were  drawn  up  to  be  their  eternal  protest  against  the  Old 
Religion."  "  Societies  are  formed,  tracts  and  books  are  written, 
lectures  are  delivered  all  over  the  country,  to  prove  to  the 
people  that  the  past  three  hundred  years  have  been  a  dismal 
mistake."  "  In  a  word,  Catholic  doctrines  and  practices  are 
being  reinstated  all  over  the  land,  and  the  old  heresies  cast 
out.  The  arch  has  been  turned,  the  keystone  alone  is  want 
ing.  When  a  sick  man  is  in  a  crisis  of  suffering,  we  pray  the 
more  for  him,  because  he  is  near  to  death  or  to  a  cure." 
"  While  some  of  us  have  been  straining  our  minds  and  hearts 
in  one  direction,  shaking  our  heads  and  lamenting  because 
the  conversions  are  so  few, — behold,  the  whole  country  has 


viii  Preface. 

become  half  converted  without  observation.  I  do  not  say 
that  half  the  people,  or  any  considerable  section  of  the 
people,  are  yet  converted ;  but  I  say  that  the  decay  of  pre 
judice,  the  advance  of  truth,  the  change  in  sentiment  and 
policy,  and  in  faith  and  practice,  justify  us  in  saying  that 
England  is  half  converted  from  what  she  was  during  the  last 
three  centuries, — and  this  both  within  the  Establishment  and 
without." 

Surely  the  words  of  this  Pope  and  of  this  Cardinal,  here 
quoted,  may,  in  the  first  place,  dispose  Catholics  to  look  back 
with  some  interest  to  the  earlier  history  of  the  Establish 
ment,  including  that  of  Laud,  and,  in  the  second,  lead 
Anglicans  to  hope  that  Catholic  writers,  in  dealing  with 
their  Church  and  Churchmen,  may  not  be  altogether 
ungenerous  foes. 

And  well  may  converts  look  with  a  kindly  spirit  upon 
their  Anglican  neighbours ;  for,  if  they  consider  it  an  inestim 
able  privilege  to  have  been  received  into  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,  it  behoves  at  least  the  less  distinguished  in  virtues 
and  attainments  to  reflect  with  modesty  and  gratitude  upon 
the  extraordinary  miracle  of  mercy  which  selected  them — so 
few  out  of  so  many — to  see  the  "  Kindly  Light "  and  to  follow 
it,  while  the  vast  majority  of  their  former  co-religionists, 
some  of  them  immensely  their  superiors  in  mental  ability, 
in  the  extent  of  their  studies,  and  even,  perhaps,  in  heroic 
works  of  chanty  and  self-denial,  have  not  had  this  grace 
given  to  them. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Principal  events  from  1573  to  1589. 

PAGE 

Parentage  of  Laud — Birth — Boyhood — Schools  in  his  times — 
Children's  literature — Reading — Loyalty — Queen  Elizabeth 
— Puritans  and  Jesuits — Martyrdom — Catholic  Bishops  who 
had  resigned  their  Sees — The  Spanish  Armada — Execution  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots — Death  of  Leicester — Laud  goes  to 
Oxford — St  John's  College — Sir  Thomas  White — His  Scholar 
ships  for  Reading,  &c.  .....  i 

CHAPTER  II. 
1589  to  early  in  seventeenth  century. 

Oxford  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  — Disorders — The  old 
Scholastic  Philosophy  abolished — Contests  for  Chancellorship 
— Buckeridge — Condition  of  the  Anglican  Church — Bitterness 
of  the  Puritans — Animosity  of  the  Anglicans — Rival  parties 
in  the  Establishment — Hatred  of  orders — Ridley,  Hooper,  and 
Laud — No  Consecration  thought  necessary  by  Cranmer — 
Macaulay  on  the  Founders  of  the  Anglican  Church — Arch 
bishop  Bancroft — Andrews — His  private  chapel — Bishops 
Morton  and  Cooper — Comprehensiveness  of  Anglicanism  a 
later  discovery  .  .  ....  13 

CHAPTER  III. 
Late  in  sixteenth  century  to  1605. 

Abbott — Laud  obtains  St  John's  Scholarship — Undergraduate  life 
— St  Philip  Neri — Persecution  of  Catholics — Laud  takes  his 
Degree — Becomes  "  Grammar  Reader  " — Edict  of  Nantes — 
Juxon — Death  of  Laud's  Mother — Ordained  Deacon — Execu 
tion  of  Essex — Divinity  Lectureship — Differences  with  Abbott 
—  Chaplaincy  to  Earl  of  Devonshire — Marries  him  to  the 
divorced  Lady  Rich — Gunpowder  Plot — Opinion  of  the  Arch- 
priest  upon  it  .  .  .  .  .  -36 


x  Contents. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1606  and  various  periods. 

PAGE 

Quarrel  with  Dr  Ayry— Attack  on  Laud  in  a  sermon  by  Abbott's 
Brother— Laud  on  the  Eucharist — On  Purgatory — On  Apos 
tolical  Succession — He  said  Lutherans  had  Bishops,  though 
not  in  name — In  his  opinion,  intention  not  necessary  for 
validity  of  a  Sacrament — Foreign  ministers  appointed  to  posts 
in  the  Anglican  Church  without  re-ordination — Laud  never 
used  wafer  bread,  but  Andrews  did — Laud  heard  confessions 
— Reconciliation  with  Rome — Clarendon  calls  Laud  an  enemy 
to  Popery — His  severity  to  Catholics — Declared  himself  a 
Protestant  on  the  scaffold — He  considered  Rome  an  elder 
sister  ........  36 

CHAPTER  V. 

1607—1615. 

Benefices  and  Advowsons — John  Milton — Laud  preaches  before 
James  I. — His  sermons — His  style  of  preaching — Illness — 
Presidentship  of  St  John's — Suit  about  it — George  Abbott — 
King  James— Makes  Laud  one  of  his  Chaplains — Sir  T. 
Bodley — Spanish  Ambassador  on  James  I. — Death  of  Henry, 
Prince  of  Wales— Marriage  of  Elizabeth,  Princess  of  Wales, 
to  Frederick,  Elector  Palatine  —  Apology  from  Abbott's 
brother  ........  46 

CHAPTER  VI. 
1616—1621. 

Death  of  Shakespeare— James  takes  Laud  to  Scotland— There 
Laud  gives  offence— Made  Dean  of  Gloucester — Quarrels  with 
the  Bishop  of  Gloucester— Execution  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh— 
The  Archbishop  of  Spalatro — The  latter  obtains  preferment 
in  the  Anglican  Church — Anglican  orders — Reunion  with  the 
East— Natural  Science  at  Oxford— Speculum  Mundi— New 
Professorships  at  Oxford— Death  of  the  Queen— Her  funeral- 
Coronation  of  Princess  Elizabeth  as  Queen  of  Bohemia— Her 
dethronement — Abbott  urges  James  to  support  her  cause — 
Laud  and  Buckingham  .  .  .  .  -57 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1621 — 1624. 

Williams— said  to  have  recommended  Laud  for  Bishopric  of  St 
David— Conversation  with  the  King— James's  opinion  of  Laud 
—Laud  made  Bishop  of  St  David's— Abbott's  accidental 


Contents.  xi 


homicide — The  Lawyers  and  Theologians  on  the  question 
— First  Episcopal  Act  of  Laud's  to  ask  for  a  contribution 
from  his  clergy  towards  the  War  in  the  Palatinate — Fisher  and 
the  Countess  of  Buckingham — Laud's  controversy  with — 
Dean  Hook  and  Mr  Benson  on  it — Laud's  Labyrinth  .  68 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
1622. 

Intimacy  with  Buckingham — Confessor  to  him — Advancement  at 
Court — His  prayer  for  Buckingham— Jealousy  of  Abbott — 
Visitation  of  St  David's — Questions  to  Clergy — Ordered  to 
write  account  of  Conference  with  Fisher — His  First  Ordin 
ation — Expedition  of  Prince  Charles  and  Buckingham  to 
Spain — Anger  in  England  when  publicly  known — Laud 
favoured  the  Spanish  match  ;  Abbott  opposed — Laud  con 
sequently  rises  in  royal  favour — Cabals  in  England  against 
Buckingham — Failure  of  Expedition  .  .81 

CHAPTER  IX. 
1623 — 1625. 

Williams,  now  Lord  Keeper,  quarrels  with  Laud — Makes  it  up — 
Laud  persuades  Buckingham  to  relieve  Members  of  Con 
vocation  from  heavy  subsidies — Abbott's  anger — Laud  sits 
up  with  Buckingham  when  he  is  ill— Accident  to  Lord 
Mansfield  when  tilting  on  Good  Friday — Accidents  to  Laud 
— His  passion  by  blood — Bishop  of  Norwich  accused  of 
Popery — Controversy  with  a  foreigner — Laud's  Dreams — 
His  Superstitions — Death  of  King  James — His  Appearance — 
His  Character — Calvinism  and  Arminianism — Laud's  in 
fluence  over  James — Catholicism  and  Arminianism  .  .  90 

CHAPTER  X. 

1625  and  various  periods. 

Accession  of  Charles  I. — Shows  favour  to  Laud — The  O.  and  P. 
Schedule — Laud  ordered  to  consult  Andrews — Andrews  and 
auricular  confession — Illness  of  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  Laud 
made  Clerk  of  the  Closet  until  his  recovery — Funeral  of  James 
— Marriage  of  Charles — Arrival  of  Queen — The  Pestilence — 
Fast — Laud  stays  with  Windebank — Charles  I.  hears  Mass — 
The  Parliament  at  Oxford — Assaults  on  Buckingham — Parlia 
ment  Dissolved  in  Twelve  Days — The  Pious  Petition — Dr 


xii  Contents. 


Montagu — A  New  Gag  for  an  Old  Gospel — Appello  Cassarem 
— Montagu  fined — Montagu  made  Bishop  of  Chichester — 
Brought  up  against  Laud  at  his  trial  ....  102 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1625 — 1626. 

Illness — Second  Visitation  of  St.  David's — Coach  overturned — 
Consecrates  his  domestic  chapel — Mistake  in  the  day — Only 
one  candidate  for  ordination,  and  he  unfit — Birth  of  a  son  to 
Duke  of  Buckingham — Quarrels  between  King  and  Queen 
about  her  chapels  and  chaplains — Laud  probably  had  nothing 
to  do  with  them — An  alibi — Laud  and  the  Queen — Laud 
turned  out  of  his  London  quarters  to  make  way  for  the 
French  Ambassador — Preparations  for  the  Coronation — 
Williams,  Dean  of  Westminster,  being  out  of  favour,  the 
King  deputed  Laud  to  make  the  arrangements — The  Crucifix 
—The  Queen  refused  to  attend  the  Coronation — Coronation — 
The  sword,  Curtana — Despondency  of  Williams — Death  of 
Bacon  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .114 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1626—1627. 

Charles  falls  from  his  horse— He  scolds  the  Bishops— Laud  made 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells— Promised  Archbishopric  of 
Canterbury— He  tutors  Charles— Made  Dean  of  the  Chapel 
Royal — Death  of  Andrews — Enmity  between  Buckingham 
and  Bristol— Buckingham's  visit  to  Paris,  his  extravagant 
dress,  and  his  love-makings  with  Anne  of  Austria— Laud  and 
Buckingham  visit  Cambridge  together— The  King  and 
Queen's  curtain  lecture— Bassompierre's  diplomacy— Irrita 
tion  of  the  King  of  France— Charles  champions  the  liberties 
of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and  sends  Buckingham  with  an 
expedition  to  the  coast  of  France— Laud  made  Bishop  of 
London— Despair  of  Duchess  of  Buckingham  at  her  hus 
band's  infidelities— Defeat  of  Buckingham  by  the  French  .  124 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

1627—1629. 

Quarrel  of  Laud  and  Abbott  about  Sibthorp's  sermon.  Abbott  sus 
pended  by  Charles  for  refusing  to  license  it— The  Parliament 
of  1628— Laud  falls  in  getting  out  of  his  coach— The  Parlia- 


Contents.  xiii 


ment  censures  both  Laud  and  Buckingham — Dr  Cozen's 
Devotions — Prynne's  censure — A  son  of  Belial  and  a  solicitor 
— Bishop  Mountain — Dr  Smart — Illnesses — Assassination  of 
Buckingham  by  Felton — Laud  threatens  Felton  with  the 
rack — The  death  of  Buckingham  makes  Charles  more  de 
pendent  on  Laud — The  Parliament  "  broken  up  " — Salisbury's 
sermon — John  Fraske  ......  134 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
1629—1630. 

Lady  Eleanor  Davies — Birth  and  Death  of  a  Prince  of  Wales — 
Laud's  longest  illness — Behaviour  of  congregations  during 
divine  service — The  observance  of  Lent — The  chapel  at 
Hammersmith — Lord  Mulgrave — Dr  Aylett — Death  of  Pem 
broke,  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  and  appointment  of  Laud  in  his 
place — Sermons  at  Oxford  against  Laud — Laud  gives  nearly 
six  hundred  manuscripts  to  the  University — Birth  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales — Laud  baptizes  him — Assessment  of  printers 
towards  the  repair  of  St  Paul's — Predestination — Leighton 
and  "  Sion's  Plea" — His  trial — Escape — Punishment — Beale's 
Almanack — Peter  Heylin  .  .  .  .  .144 

CHAPTER  XV. 
1631 — 1632. 

Consecration  of  St  Catherine  Creed  -  Church — The  Devil's 
Winnowing — His  Majesty's  great  Case  of  Conscience — The 
New  Buildings  at  St  John's — A  schismatic — A  bantering 
letter — The  Bishop  of  Durham  and  Cozen — Disorderly 
Proctors — Birth  of  Princess  Mary — The  Queen  of  Bohemia  ; 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  ;  Charles  and  Laud — Sir  Thomas  Roe 
— Chillingworth — He  becomes  a  Catholic  and  apostatizes — 
Suicide  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  Cambridge — Laud  gets 
Windebank  made  Secretary  of  State,  and  Juxon  Clerk  of  the 
Closet — Laying  of  the  foundation  stone  of  the  Queen's  Catholic 
Church — Death  of  the  King  of  Bohemia  .  .  .  155 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

1633- 

Charles  goes  to  Scotland,  accompanied  by  Laud — Irregularities  in 
York  Minster — Coronation  at  Holyrood — Scottish  Parliament 
— Ill-feeling  in  Scotland  towards  Laud — Death  of  Abbott— 


xiv  Contents. 


Laud  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury — Clarendon  on  Laud — 
Laud  and  funds  for  repairing  St  Paul's — The  "  sale  of  Indulg 
ences  " — Reputed  offer  of  a  Cardinal's  biretta  to  Laud — Con — 
The  Book  of  Sports — Chief  Justice  Richardson  and  his  be 
haviour  with  regard  to  it — Laud  and  the  judges  .  .  [66 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

1633- 

The  Inns  of  Court — Ordinations  of  men  without  titles — Immoral 
clergymen  —  Cockfighting  in  church  —  A  Capuchin  on  the 
Anglican  clergy — Powers  of  search  for  schismatics — Fines 
of  Printers — Laud's  accounts  of  his  Province  to  the  King — 
The  King's  remarks  in  the  margins— St  Asaph — Lady  Falk 
land — Laud's  coach,  horses,  and  men  sunk  in  the  Thames 
when  being  ferried  from  London  to  Lambeth — Lady  Eleanor 
Davies  prophesies  Laud's  death  in  the  following  November — 
Birth  of  another  Prince — Ireland — Wentworth — Lord  Cork 
and  his  family  monument  in  St  Patrick's  Cathedral — Laud 
Chancellor  of  Dublin  ......  177 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Scheme  for  a  great  Protestant  Union — Roe — John  Durie — Diet  of 
Frankfort— Laud  advocates  an  Evangelical  Alliance — So  good 
a  cause — Love  to  the  work — Brothers  in  Christ  in  the  Pala 
tinate,  £c. — Lutheran  churches — Want  of  "  oyl " — Private  life 
at  Lambeth — Was  Laud  musical? — Laud's  appearance — His 
tortoise — His  portraits  .  .  .  .  .  .191 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

1633—1634. 

William  Prynne— "  Histrio-mastrix"— Trial  of  Prynne— Sen 
tences  of  his  various  judges— His  letter  to  Laud— His  second 
trial,  with  Bastwick  and  Burton— His  punishment— A  badly 
tipped  executioner — Prynne  laid  everything  to  Laud's  charge — 
Offending  clergy  and  laity— Converts  to  Catholicism— How 
Laud  treated  them— Especially  ladies— The  Walloon  congre 
gation—French  Protestants  in  England— Green's  opinion 
about— Laud's  conduct  justified— Attributed  to  wrong  causes 
by  Green— Various  Catholic  local  rites— How  treated  in  other 
countries— Queen  of  Bohemia's  dislike  of  Laud— Laud  forced 
Communion  on  members  of  other  churches  201 


Contents.  xv 

CHAPTER  XX. 

1634. 

I'AGE 

Laud  and  communion-tables — Table-wise  or  altar-wise — Clarendon 
on  subject — St  Gregory's  Church — Trial  of  the  case  before  the 
King— Laud  rails  at  his  kind  patron,  Neale— Laud's  metro- 
political  visitation  and  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln — Modern 
clergymen  who  have  removed  their  communion-tables — Non- 
kneelants — Laud  brings  some  of  his  brother  bishops  to  book 
— Goodman,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  wants  a  coadjutor — An 
Oratorian  sent  to  England  from  Rome — Good  feeling  be 
tween  Laud  and  the  Queen  .  214 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
1634 — 1635  and  later  years. 

Laud  and  Wentworth — The  Thirty-nine  Articles  too  high  for  the 
Irish  Bishops — A  chapel  with  no  communion-table  in  it — 
Laud  and  Wentworth  got  ,£30,000  a  year  refunded  to  the 
Anglican  Church  in  Ireland— Laud's  income — Laud  and 
Wentworth's  correspondence — The  case  of  Adderley  Church  .  226 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
1636. 

Montague  and  Panzani — Negotiations  for  reunion — Pope  Urban — 
Cardinal  Barberini — Laud  and  the  Duchess  of  Buckingham — 
Only  three  Anglican  bishops  in  England  averse  to  union  with 
Rome — King  doubtful — Laud  cautious — Panzani  accused  at 
Rome  of  having  exceeded  his  commission — Bray  or  Gray — 
Popularity  of  the  Papal  Legate  at  Court — Father  Preston  and 
the  Oath  of  Allegiance — Father  Leander  and  Laud — Modern 
prospects  of  reunion  considered  ....  236 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
1635 — 1636  and  later  years. 

Marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham's  daughter,  at  which  the 
Catholic  grandmother  refuses  to  be  present — Laud  put  on  the 
Committee  of  Trade  and  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
and  made  a  Commissioner  of  the  Exchequer — His  provisions 
against  the  purchase  of  lay  impropriations — How  Cottington 
played  a  trick  upon  Laud  and  put  him  into  a  false  position 
with  the  King — Laud's  love  of  bricks  and  mortar — The  Queen 
of  Bohemia  endeavours  to  get  Laud  to  obtain  a  bishopric  for 
one  of  her  chaplains — She  enlists  his  services  on  her  son's 
behalf  with  her  brother — Their  correspondence  .  .  249 


xvi  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1636. 

PAGE 

Reappearance  of  the  plague  in  London — The  Queen  and  artists 
and  poets — King  Charles  and  the  fine  arts — His  love  of  them 
gave  great  offence  in  England — Laud  and  Charles — Finance 
— Fines— Ship-money — John  Hampden — Death  of  Portland, 
Lord  Treasurer — Laud  gets  Juxon,  now  Bishop  of  London, 
appointed  in  his  place — Visit  of  the  King  and  Queen  to 
Oxford,  as  Laud's  guests — Provisions  sent  as  presents — Laud's 
journey  from  Croydon  to  Oxford — His  reception  of  Cottington 
— Speeches  on  the  arrival  of  the  King — Lack  of  enthusiasm — 
Entertainments  at  St  John's — Services — Theatricals — Cost — 
Unfavourable  comparison  with  the  visit  of  Queen  Elizabeth  .  259 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
1636. 

Question  of  the  Archbishop's  right  of  Visitation  at  the  Universities 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge — Sir  Kenelm  Digby — His  con 
version — His  letter  to  Laud — Laud's  reply — Their  unbroken 
friendship — Digby  does  Laud  a  good  service  during  his  im 
prisonment — An  Oxford  undergraduate  suspected  of  "  Romish 
leanings" — How  treated  by  Laud  and  his  Vice-Chancellor — 
Laud  threatens  to  close  the  University  Press — The  Mitre 
Hotel  a  nest  of  Papists — The  opening  of  the  Queen's  chapel — 
Exposition — Large  numbers  of  confessions  and  communions  .  27 1 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1637- 

The  Devout  Life  by  St  Francois  de  Sales— Adapted— Its  "  falsifi 
cations  "  restored— Trials  about  it— Eleven  hundred  copies 
burned — Father  Morse — He  consumes  the  B.  Sacrament, 
although  not  fasting— Laud's  treatment  of  him— Laud  speaks 
freely  against  converts  of  high  position  at  the  Council— Sir 
Thoby  Matthews — Wentworth's  action  towards  Catholics  in 
Ireland— Persecution— Extreme  Protestantism  of  Usher- 
Libels  against  Laud— Severe  sentence  on  Lilburn— Laud 
confiscates  the  Genevan  Bible— The  New  Englanders— Laud 
thinks  of  sending  a  bishop  to  them,  backed  up  by  an  armed 
force — Their  own  cruel  persecution  of  the  Quakers  .  .  285 


Contents.  xvii 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
1637. 

PAGE 

Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  summoned  before  the  Star  Chamber 
for  suborning  witnesses — The  Attorney  General's  prosecution 
— Cottington's  sentence — Laud's  long  sentence— Williams  in 
the  Tower — Hales — Laud  summons  him  to  Lambeth  on 
account  of  his  unorthodox  book — He  walks  about  the  garden 
arguing  with  Hales  most  of  the  day — He  obtains  a  canonry  of 
Windsor  for  him — Eleanor  Davies  and  her  Holy  Water  ;  she 
is  put  into  a  lunatic  asylum — Lady  Purbeck  and  Sir  Robert 
Howard— She  escapes  to  France— Sir  Robert  obtains  damages 
for  false  imprisonment  from  Laud  during  the  Long  Parliament 
—The  form  of  penance  for  the  reconciliation  of  an  apostate  .  298 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
1637—1638. 

Scotland — The  Liturgy — To  what  extent  Laud  had  to  do  with 
the  framing  and  enforcing  of  the  Scotch  Prayer  Book— The 
present  Scotch  Communion  Office — Dean  Stanley  on  the 
question  whether  it  is  less  or  more  Protestant  than  the 
Anglican — Introduction  of  the  "Buke"in  the  Cathedral  at 
Edinburgh — Rough  treatment  of  the  Bishop — Riot  about  the 
Liturgy  at  Glasgow — Laud's  reception  of  the  news  of  its  failure 
— He  is  taunted  by  Archie,  the  court  jester,  and  procures  his 
dismissal — Lord  Traquair — The  question  whether  he  was 
honest  and  whether  he  blundered — The  Scottish  Council  sus 
pends  the  use  of  the  Liturgy — The  Tables — The  Covenant — 
Lord  Loudon — The  Marquess  of  Hamilton — He  is  sent  as 
Royal  Commissioner  to  Scotland — His  failure — Preparations 
for  war  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .311 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
1637,   1638,  and  other  years. 

Comparisons  between  Laud  and  Richelieu — Richelieu  wishes  to 
secure  the  neutrality  of  England  whilst  France  seizes  the 
maritime  towns  of  the  Netherlands — He  sends  D'Estrades  to 
the  English  Court  for  this  purpose — Interviews  with  Henrietta 
Maria  and  Charles — Failing  with  the  King,  he  gives  support 
to  the  Scotch  Covenanters — Macaulay^s  statement  concerning 
Wentworth's  non-responsibility  as  to  the  enforcement  of  the 
Scotch  Liturgy  liable  to  misconstruction  —  Correspondence 
between  Laud  and  Wentworth  about  Scotch  affairs  .  .  323 

b 


xviii  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
1638—1640. 

PAGE 

Charles  and  his  army  advance  towards  Scotland — Laud  urges  the 
clergy  to  give  35.  icd.  in  the  £\  of  their  incomes  towards  the 
war — Sir  K.  Digby  institutes  a  collection  for  the  same  purpose 
among  the  Catholics — Bad  management,  as  well  as  treachery, 
in  the  King's  army — The  murderous  Marchioness  of  Hamilton 
— Douglas  on  Episcopacy  being  orthodox  in  England  and 
heretical  in  Scotland — The  "  Pacification  " — Laud's  dis 
approval  of  the  terms — Destruction  of  the  Spanish  Fleet  by 
the  French — Disgrace  of  England — Success  of  Richelieu's 
diplomacy — Necessity  of  a  Parliament  to  impose  fresh  taxes 
— Infirmity  of  Laud — Parliament  meets — Laud  is  abused  in 
it — Its  refusal  to  make  a  grant  towards  subduing  the  Scottish 
Rebellion — Dissolution  of  Parliament — Popular  indignation 
against  Laud — Attack  upon  his  palace  at  Lambeth  by  the 
Mob  .  .  333 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Very  varying  dates. 

People  with  whom  Laud  had  to  do — Nicholas  Ferrar — Little 
Gidding — The  first  Anglican  monastery — Encouraged  both 
by  Laud  and  Williams— Patronised  by  Royalty — Fasting- 
printing— Polyglots — George  Herbert — Dr  Donne — Isaak 
Walton — Lord  Pembroke— -Davenant,  Bishop  of  Salisbury 
— Influence  of  Herbert,  Ken,  and  Keble,  as  poets,  upon 
Anglicanism — Lucius  Cary,  Viscount  Falkland — Sweetness 
and  Light,  and  Sweetness  and  Delight  .  .  .  343 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
1639 — 1640. 

Laud's  correspondence  with  Johnson,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia's 
Chaplain  at  the  Hague,  about  a  report  that  he  favoured  the 
Socinians — Disputes  between  the  University  and  the  Civic 
Authorities  at  Oxford — Objections  to  sermon  preached  on  the 
Real  Presence,  before  the  King  by  Goodman,  Bishop  of 
Gloucester — Convocation  illegally  sits  after  Parliament  has 
risen  and  makes  Canons — Bishop  of  Gloucester  refuses  to 
sign  them— He  signs  them— He  is  imprisoned— He  died  a 
Catholic — Charles  scolds  Laud  for  oppressing  the  Catholics — 
The  "  Et  Cetera  "  oath— The  Scotch  army  crosses  the  Border 
—The  King  proceeds  in  haste  to  the  North  with  the  English 
army — Laud  is  frightened  .  .  .  .  -355 


Contents.  xix 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
1640. 

PAGE 

The  Parliament  assembles — Timidity  of  Charles — Death  of  Laud's 
old  patron,  Dr  Neile,  Archbishop  of  York— Convocation— 
Wentworth  made  Earl  of  Strafford — Impeachment  of  Strafford 
—Sir  Henry  Vane  and  his  son— Their  "contrivance"— 
Release  of  Williams — Also  of  Prynne,  Bastwick,  and  Burton 
—The  "  Root  and  Branch  Petition  "—Ballads  deriding  Laud 
cried  and  sold  about  the  streets  of  London— Direct  charges 
made  against  him  in  the  House  of  Commons — Impeached  for 
High  Treason— Arrest— Return  to  Lambeth  to  get  some 
books  and  papers— Committed  to  the  charge  of  Maxwell, 
Usher  of  the  Black  Rod  .  .  .  .  .366 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
1641. 

Laud  "a  silly  fellow  to  hold  talk  with  a  Lady" — Exorbitant 
charges  for  his  keep — Taken  to  the  House  of  Lords — Com 
mitted  to  the  Tower— Reviled  by  the  "  Raskle  Rabble"  on  his 
way  thither — Grotius  sends  Pococke  to  advise  Laud  to 
escape — He  refuses — Wrath  of  Laud  at  the  preponderance  of 
lay  votes  in  a  Committee  appointed  to  examine  into  Innova 
tions  of  Doctrine  and  Discipline  in  the  Anglican  Church — 
Laud  in  the  Tower — Trial  of  Strafford — Faithlessness  of 
Charles — Sentence  on  Strafford — He  is  not  allowed  to  see  Laud 
— Interview  between  Laud  and  Strafford  through  the  window 
on  the  way  to  execution — Execution  of  Strafford — Clarendon 
on  Strafford  .......  376 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
1641. 

"  Libels  "  against  Laud — Tertian  Ague — Resigns  Chancellorship 
of  Oxford — Charles  "  rode  away  Post  into  Scotland  " — Laud 
loses  his  Steward— Williams  persuades  the  Lords  to  sequester 
Laud's  jurisdiction  as  Archbishop — Charles  returns  from  Scot 
land—Williams  and  nine  other  Bishops  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower — Complacency  of  the  Head  of  their  Church — Rumours 
that  the  Queen  is  to  be  impeached — Charles  has  some  of  the 
Parliament  impeached — His  order  not  obeyed — Charles's 
authority  set  at  naught  by  the  Commons — The  Queen  goes 
to  Holland — Question  whether,  in  the  Tower,  Laud  con 
templated  escape,  a  flight  to  Rome,  and  becoming  a  Catholic 


xx  Contents. 

I'AGE 

— Charles  refers  the  consideration  of  the  Government  and 
Liturgy  of  the  Church  to  the  Wisdom  of  Parliament — Anger 
of  Laud  .....  .  387 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1641—1643. 

Laud  receives  a  visitor  who  tries  to  extort  a  bribe  from  him — Laud 
strains  a  tendon— Very  lame  for  two  months — Preached  at  in 
the  Church  in  the  Tower — Laud's  arms  taken  away  from 
Lambeth  Palace — "The  Bishops  were  voted  down  in  the 
House  of  Commons  " — Their  "  Rents  and  Profits  "  seques 
trated — Bill  passed  abolishing  Episcopacy — Lord  Brooke  shot 
at  Lichfield — Threat  of  sending  Laud  to  New  England — 
Order  from  the  King  to  place  all  his  Church  patronage  at 
the  royal  disposal — Prynne  searches  Laud's  room  at  the 
Tower — Laud  again  preached  at — The  "  Synodical  Men"- 
Laud  and  the  Scotch  Prayer  Book — His  theories  as  to  the 
Real  Presence  and  the  necessity  of  Intention  in  Sacraments  400 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

1643. 

"Rome's  Master  Piece" — Andreas  ab  Habernfield — Con — Siege 
of  Reading — The  Covenant  in  England — Charles's  declaration 
just  before  receiving  Communion  of  his  exceeding  Protes 
tantism — Laud  applies  for  Counsel  and  Funds  for  his  trial — 
Ordered  to  appear  in  Forma  Pauperis — His  request  for 
distinguishment  as  to  which  charges  are  to  be  regarded  as 
High  Treason  and  which  as  mere  Misdemeanour — Railed  at 
on  his  way  to  the  House  of  Lords — He  receives  a  visit  from  a 
New  England  Minister  .  .  .  .  .413 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

1644. 

The  King  sends  Laud  a  sealed  Pardon  before  his  trial— Articles 
of  Impeachment — Sergeant  Wilde's  opening  speech  for  the 
Prosecution— Laud's  reply — He  is  baited  in  the  ante-chamber, 
after  the  first  day's  trial,  by  a  clergyman — Sometimes  taken 
to  the  House  of  Lords  from  the  Tower  for  trial,  and  sent  back 
again  untried— Expenses  of  trial ;  each  time  he  goes  to  the 
House  of  Lords  it  costs  him  £6  or  £7 — Death  of  Richelieu 
— Rise  of  Cromwell — Abolition  of  the  "Book  of  Common 
Prayer" — Change  in  appearances  of  the  streets  of  London  .  425 


Contents.  xxi 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

1644. 

PAGE 

Heylin's  contrasted  with  Prynne's  description  of  Laud's  trial — 
Clarendon's- — Witnesses'  evidence  against  Laud — Santa  Clara 
— Laud,  for  the  most  part,  conducts  his  own  case — His 
courage  in  his  defence — Mr  Nicholas — Mr  Pincen — Mar 
riages  in  the  Tower — Laud's  treatment  of  Foreign  Reformed 
Churches  in  England — Laud's  doctrine  as  to  the  ordination 
of  a  priest  by  a  priest,  and  not  a  bishop,  in  casu  nccessitatis — 
Laud  and  Apostolical  Succession  and  the  Real  Presence — A 
copy  of  his  Diary  in  a  "  Blue  Coat "  given  to  "  every  Lord 
present" — No  Popery  ......  436 

CHAPTER  XL. 

1644—1645. 

Laud's  Recapitulation — He  gives  vent  to  some  sarcasms — His 
nose  bleeds,  and  he  takes  it  as  an  ill  omen — Mr  Brown  makes 
"  a  Summ  or  brief  of  the  Charge  " — Mr  Nicholas  wants  him  to 
be  hanged,  unheard — Laud's  Counsel,  Hern  of  Lincoln's  Inn, 
argues  his  case  on  technical  grounds — Laud  summoned 
before  the  Commons — His  annoyance  at — Ordinance  drawn 
up  to  attaint  him  of  High  Treason — Brown  gives  another 
summary  of  the  charge  against  him — Laud  allowed  ten  days 
to  reply — His  reply — His  opinion  of  Epitomes — Laud's 
courage  in  speaking  of  Separatists— Hearsay  evidence — The 
Commons  vote  the  Ordinance  making  Laud  guilty  of  High 
Treason — Its  reception  by  the  Lords — Pembroke's  "cankered 
Humour  against"  Laud — Conference  between  Lords  and 
Commons — Christmas  Eve — Fast  on  Christmas  Day — Bill  of 
Attainder  passed  in  the  House  of  Lords — Laud's  reception  of 
the  news — What  Peers  passed  the  Ordinance— Clarendon  on 
the  Ordinance  .......  446 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
1645. 

Laud  condemned  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered — Lords 
would  commute  for  beheading  ;  the  Commons  refuse — The 
Commons  yield — Laud  prepares  a  written  sermon  to  preach 
on  the  scaffold — Laud's  last  day  and  night — William  Laud 
and  St  William  of  Bourges — The  procession  to  the  scaffold — 
The  surroundings — Five  executions  in  six  weeks — Laud's 
sermon — Prayer  at  the  end  .  .  456 


xxii  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

1645. 

PAGE 

Laud's  defence  of  the  King  in  his  sermon — His  conduct  contrasted 
with  that  of  Charles — His  prayer  partly  addressed  to  the 
bystanders — The  reporter — He  takes  off  his  doublet — People 
under  the  scaffold — An  Irishman  torments  him — Arrange 
ments  with  the  executioner — Final  prayer — Execution — 
Funeral  at  All  Hallows,  Barking — People  said  he  had  painted 
his  face — A  ghastly  comedy — Catholics  and  their  doctrine  as 
to  those  who  die  in  good  faith — Question  whether  Laud 
helped  to  bring  his  friends  also  to  the  scaffold — Question 
whether  Laud  injured  or  benefitted  the  Church  to  which  he 
belonged — His  Erastianism — Poems  on  his  death — His  Anti- 
Catholicism — Divisions  of  opinion  in  the  Anglican  Church — 
A  wife  might  have  saved  Laud — His  benevolence — He  did 
not  owe  his  advancement  to  personal  charms  or  literary  style 
—Rude  to  the  rich  but  obsequious  to  a  few  great  potentates 
— He  did  not  live  in  times  devoid  of  personal  holiness— 
Eulogy  ........  467 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS. 


HIST.— The  History  of  the  Troubles  and  Tryal  of  The  Most  Reverend 
Father  In  God,  and  Blessed  Martyr,  William  Laud,  Lord  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury.  Wrote  by  Himselfe,  during  his  Imprisonment 
in  the  Tower.  Preface  by  Hen.  Wharton.  London,  1795. 

DIARY— [To  the  above]  is  prefixed  The  Diary  of  His  Own  Life  Faithfully 
and  entirely  Published  from  the  Original  Copy. 

CYP.  ANG. — CyprianusAnglicanus,  or  The  History  of  the  Life  and  Death 
of  The  Most  Reverend  and  Renowned  Prelate  William,  By  Divine 
Providence,  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  &c.  By  Peter 
Heylin. 

BENSON — William  Laud,  some-time  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  A  Study. 
By  A.  C.  Benson,  B.A.  London  :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  &  Co., 
1887. 

CAL.  STA.  PA.  DOM. — Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Domestic. 

Die.  NAT.  Bio. — A  Dictionary  of  National  Biography.  By  Sidney 
Lee. 

HIST.  REB.— The  History  of  the  Great  Rebellion.  By  Edward  Earl  of 
Clarendon.  Oxford  :  Printed  at  the  Theater,  1707. 

LAUD'S  LAB. — Labyrinthus  Cantuariensis,  or  Doctor  Laud's  Labyrinth, 
£c.  By  T.  C.  Paris,  1658. 

LIB.  ANG.-CATH.  THEOL.— Library  of  Anglo- Catholic  Theology.  Ox 
ford  :  John  Henry  Parker,  1846. 

S.  P.  O.— State  Paper  Office. 

ENG.  UNIV.— The  English  Universities.  From  the  German  of  V.  A. 
Huber.  Edited  by  F.  W.  Newman. 

REC.  ENG.  PROV.  S.  J. — Records  of  the  English  Province  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus,  £c.  By  Henry  Foley,  S.  J.  1877. 

ENCY.  BRIT. — Encyclopaedia  Britannica.     8th  Edition. 

SCRINIA  RESERATA— Scrinia  Reserata  :  A  Memorial  offer'd  of  the  Great 
Deservings  of  John  Williams,  D.D.,  &c.,  &c.,  Lord  Archbishop  of 
York.  Written  by  John  Hackett,  late  Bishop  of  Litchfield  and 
Coventry.  1692. 

PANZANI — Memoirs  of  Gregorio  Panzani,  Envoy  from  Rome  to  the 
English  Clergy.  Translated  from  the  Italian  Original  by  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Berington. 

RUSHWORTH — Rushworth's  Historical  Recollections. 

HIST.  COLL.—  Do.  do. 

CONF.  WITH  FISHER— A  Relation  of  The  Conference  between  William 
Laud,  late  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Mr  Fisher  the  Jesuit, 
£c.  With  an  Answer  to  such  exceptions  as  A.  C.  takes  against 
it.  Oxford  :  At  the  University  Press,  1839. 


LIFE  OF  ARCHBISHOP  LAUD. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MY  hero  was  the  son  of  a  tailor.  One  of  his  bitter  enemies, 
and  he  had  many,  describes  him  as  a  man  of  very  low  birth, 
"  E  faece  plebis  " ;  on  the  other  hand,  Heylin,  who  acted  as 
his  Boswell,  says  : — "  If  Laud's  father  was  a  tailor,  he  also 
kept  not  only  many  Lomes  (looms)  in  his  house,  but  many 
Weavers ;  " *  and  he  adds  that  his  mother  was  actually  so 
aristocratic  as  to  be  "sister  to  a  Lord  Mayor  of  London." 
Moreover,  we  should  remember  that  the  scope  of  the  tailor's 
art  was  much  wider  in  the  sixteenth  century  than  it  is  in  the 
nineteenth.  Who  has  not  read  of  that  great  tailor's  son,  of 
fiction,  Sir  Piercie  Shafto  ?  with  his  "murrey-coloured  double- 
piled  Genoa  velvet,  puffed  out  with  ciprus,"  his  "  rich  crimson 
silk  doublet,  slashed  out  and  lined  with  cloth  of  gold,  with 
baldric  and  trimmings  to  correspond,"  and  his  "  four  suits  of 
as  pure  and  elegant  device  as  ever  the  fancy  of  a  fair  lady 
doated  upon,  every  one  having  a  treble  and  appropriate 
change  of  ribbons,  trimmings,  and  fringes,  which,  in  case 
of  need,  may,  as  it  were,  renew  each  of  them,  and  multiply 
the  four  into  twelve."  -  Obviously,  a  tailor,  especially  a 
tailor  who  was  also  a  weaver,  might  not  only  have  been 
a  man  of  taste  and  skill,  but  also  of  at  least  very  substantial 
means,  in  the  sixteenth  century.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  when 
Laud's  father  died,  he  left  him  ^1200,  the  equivalent  of  a 

1  "  Cyp.  Angl.,"  p.  42.  -  "  The  Monastery,"  by  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

A 


2  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [1573- 

very  comfortable  little  capital  in  our  own  days,  besides 
his  stock  in  trade,  his  house  in  Reading,  -and  two  houses 
at  Swallowfield. 

"I  was  born  Octob.  7,  1573,  at  Reading"  says  Laud  in 
his  diary.1 

He  was  the  only  child  of  a  second  marriage,2  and  a 
delicate  baby ;  for  he  says  of  himself : — "  In  my  Infancy 
I  was  in  danger  of  Death  by  Sickness."  There  is  a  tradi 
tion  that  he  was  born  in  a  house  situated  on  the  north 
side  of  Broad  Street,  which  was  noticeable  for  "the  semi 
circular  termination  of  the  brick  front  in  the  upper  storey."  3 
Mr  Coates,  from  whom  I  quote,  attempts  to  prove,  and 
apparently  with  success,  that  Prynne's  assertion  that  he 
was  born  "at  a  cottage  just  against  the  Cage"  is  utterly 
false.  Broad  Street  was  not  very  far  from  the  modern 
railway  stations,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  town.  And 
here  it  may  be  well  to  observe  that  the  biographer  of  Laud 
has  frequently  to  balance  his  opinion  somewhere  between 
the  calumnies  of  Prynne,  blended  as  they  are  with  a  certain 
amount  of  truth,  and  the  exaggerated  panegyrics  of  Heylin,, 
and  some  of  his  other  admirers,  both  contemporary  and 
modern. 

Mr  Bruce,  in  his  interesting  but  unfinished  essay,  prefixed 
to  the  "  Life  of  Laud  "  in  Dean  Hook's  Lives  of  the  Archbishops 
of  Canterbury^  tells  us  that,  at  Reading  School,  Laud  "  so 
distinguished  himself,  that  his  master  foretold  his  fuuret 
eminence,  and  expressed  a  hope,  that  when  Laud  should 
become  a  great  man,  he  would  not  forget  how  much  he  owed 
to  the  training  he  received  at  Reading  School  [Lloyd's 
1  Memoires  '].  His  master  was  severe  in  discipline,  but  came 
to  the  conclusions  just  mentioned  from  observing  the  strange 
dreams,  witty  speeches,  generous  spirit,  great  apprehension, 
and  notable  performances  of  his  pupil." 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  sharp,  intelligent  boy,  rendered, 
perhaps,  more  precocious  by  the  delicacy  of  his  early  child 
hood,  his  inability  to  join  in  ordinary  children's  games,  and 

1  "Hist.  W.  L.,"  p.  i.  2  Benson,  p.  12. 

3  Coates's  "  History  of  Reading,"  p.  411.  4  Vol.  xi.  p.  4. 


1573-8?-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  3 

his  consequently  increased  intercourse  with  older  people, 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  schoolmaster.  Then,  a  clever 
little  boy,  for  William  Laud  was  small  in  stature,  is  apt  to 
receive  more  credit  than  he  deserves,  when  he  excels  much 
bigger  boys  of  his  own  age.  His  face,  again,  if  never 
handsome,  was  noticeable.  His  portraits  show  us  bright, 
piercing  eyes,  with  remarkably  high  eyebrows,  which  give 
a  half-surprised,  half-supercilious  expression  to  his  coun 
tenance,  and  we  read  that  he  had  a  high,  harsh,  irritable 
voice,  and  a  nervous,  impetuous  manner.  A  master  might 
well  be  both  interested  and  amused  with  a  lad  of  this 
description. 

If  a  pedagogue  was  considered  "severe"  in  those  days, 
great  indeed  must  have  been  his  severity.  The  floggings  of 
the  period  were  serious  matters,  judging  from  the  fact  that 
early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  a  son  of  the  Bishop  of 
Bristol  committed  suicide  in  order  to  avoid  one.1 

A  use  of  the  rod,  considered  excessive  even  at  the  latter 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  may  have  helped  to  produce  in 
Laud  that  stoical  contempt  for  such  corporal  punishments 
as  the  pillory,  whippings,  ear-croppings,  and  nose-slittings, 
which  he  exhibited  in  the  Court  of  High  Commission  and 
the  Star  Chamber,  in  later  years.  At  the  same  time,  we 
must  remember  that,  even  in  his  school-days,  there  was 
something  of  a  reaction  from  the  brutal  severity  of  peda 
gogues.  In  1581,  the  headmaster  of  Merchant  Taylor's 
School  wrote  :  —  "  For  gentlenesse  and  curtesie  towards 
children,  I  do  thinke  it  more  nedefull  than  beatinge  ;  "2  and, 
somewhere  near  the  same  time,  Brinsley,  the  author  of 
Pueriles  Confabulatiunculce,  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  that 
the  birch-rod  should  be  replaced  by  a  "  lytel  twigge." 

Already,  too,  books  of  the  Reading-without  Tears  type 
had  begun  to  come  into  fashion.  Four  years  before  the 
birth  of  Laud,  a  book  was  published,  entitled  A  delysious 
Surupe  newly  daryfied  for  yonge  scholars  y*  thurste  for  the 
swete  lycore  of  Laten  speche.  In  the  same  year,  William 
Hay  ward  wrote  his  Grammer  Warre,  in  which  Amo,  king 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1611-18,  p.  120.       2  Mulcaster's  "Positives,"  Brit.  Mus. 


4  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [1573-87. 

of  the  verbs,  and  Poeta,  king  of  the  nouns,  have  a  battle, 
and  the  pronouns  are  called  in  as  allies.  Very  nearly  at  the 
same  date,  if  a  trifle  earlier,  Roger  Ascham  published  his 
famous  Sckoolemaister,  or  Plaine  and  perfyte  way  of  teaching 
cJiildren  to  understand  writing  and  speakyng  the  Latin  tong, 
but  specially  purposed  for  the  private  Bringing  up  of  youth  in 
Jentlemens  and  Noblemen  s  houses ;  and  so  long  as  forty 
years  before  Laud's  birth,  an  Eton  master  (Udall),  had 
written  a  book  called  Floures  of  Latyn  Spekyngel  In  respect 
to  religious  instruction,  it  may  be  worth  mentioning  that 
Dean  Nowell  of  St  Paul's,  the  successor  of  the  famous  Dean 
Colet,  published,  three  years  before  the  birth  of  Laud,  a 
Catechism  which  became  the  standard  work  of  its  kind,  and 
remained  so  for  many  years.2 

It  is  far  from  unlikely  that  Laud  might  have  studied  a 
children's  reading-book  which  was  much  in  fashion  in  his 
youth,  entitled,  A  Booke  in  Englyssh  metre  of  the  great  mar- 
chaunt  man  called  Dyves  Pragmaticus,  very  pretye  for  chyldren 
to  rede,  wherby  they  may  better  and  more  readyer  rede  and 
write  Wares  and  Implements  in  this  worlde  contayned ;  or 
a  book  some  thirty  years  older,  The  Secret  of  Secrets  of 
Aristotle  .  .  .  very  go de  to  teach  children  to  read  English ;  or 
a  child's  book  of  about  the  same  period,  Andrew  Borde's 
Introduction  to  Knowledge,  in  which  run  the  lines  : — 

"  I  am  an  Englishman,  and  naked  I  stand  here, 
Musing  in  my  minde  what  raiment  I  shall  were." 

But  one  of  the  best  known  books  for  children,  that 
appeared  immediately  before  Laud  was  born,  was  The  Schoole 
of  Vertue,  which  was  for  long  used  as  a  lesson  book  and  was 
even  reprinted  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century.  It 
taught  good  manners  and,  with  one  or  two  of  its  fellows, 
provoked  a  wicked  writer  to  publish  a  sort  of  parody,  called 
The  School  of  Slovenrie,  the  style  of  which  may  be  judged 
by  the  following  couplet  :— 

"  When  thou  art  set,  devoure  as  much  as  thou  with  healthe  canst  eate, 
Thou  therefore  wert  to  dinner  bid,  to  help  away  his  meate." 

1  See  "  The  Child  and  his  Book,"  by  Mrs  Field,  p.  149.          2  Ib.  p.  143. 


I573-87-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  5 

I  mention  these  books  to  show  that  a  great  step  had  been 
made  in  juvenile  literature  just  before  Laud's  birth  and  in 
his  early  childhood. 

Among  certain  classes,  a  clerical  career  is  regarded  as  an 
important  social  advancement.  The  smallest  Scotch  farmer 
hopes  that  his  first-born  son  may  some  day  "wag  his 
pow "  in  the  pulpit ;  the  Irish  cotter  that  his  boy  may  live 
to  be  addressed  as  "  yer  riverence "  ;  and  in  England,  the 
burgher  sets  before  himself  the  sending  of  his  son  to  college 
and  his  subsequent  "ordination,"  as  the  highest  object  of  his 
ambition.  What  more  natural,  therefore,  than  that  Laud, 
the  tailor,  should  make  up  his  mind  to  send  his  only  child  to 
Oxford,  with  a  view  to  his  becoming  a  clergyman,  and  his 
thoughts  may  have  been  directed  towards  churches  and 
benefices  by  the  duties  of  his  office  of  churchwarden,  an 
honour  which  he  obtained  only  a  couple  of  years  before  he 
sent  his  son  to  college. 

At  a  time  when  public  feeling  was  beginning  to  run  high 
between  the  supporters  of  "  Church  and  Queen "  and  the 
Puritans,  even  boys  would  place  themselves  on  one  side  or 
the  other  ;  many  of  us  have  seen  little  lads  giving  and 
enduring  bloody  noses,  for  the  sake  of  religious  tenets  which 
they  but  very  partially  understood  ;  and  it  is  probable  that 
at  a  town  like  Reading  the  tendency  was  towards  the  school 
of  thought  then  held  to  be  orthodox  by  the  loyal  and  the 
influential. 

Of  politics,  again,  much  would  no  doubt  be  heard  and  said 
at  Reading.  When  we  consider  how  many  roads  converge 
on  Reading  on  their  way  to  London,  it  becomes  evident  that 
that  town  must  have  been  an  important  local  centre  of  news 
and  gossip  ;  although  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  London 
road  was  then  so  bad  near  the  town,  and,  owing  to  its  low 
level,  so  subject  to  floods,  as  to  be  sometimes  impassable  for 
a  month  or  six  weeks  together.1  Even  in  the  early  years  of 
the  present  century,  my  father's  schoolmaster  used,  during  an 
illness  of  the  then  reigning  monarch,  to  go  every  day  to  the 
nearest  post-town,  await  the  arrival  of  the  London  coach  at 

1  Coates's  "  History  of  Reading,"  p.  458. 


6  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [1573-87. 

the  inn  where  the  horses  were  changed,  and  call  out  in  a 
pompous  voice,  as  it  drew  up  ; — "  Well,  guard,  and  how  is 
poor  king  ?  "  Much  more  must  coachmen  and  travellers  have 
been  pestered  for  news,  in  days  when  newspapers  had  only 
just  been  invented,  and  that  scarcely  more  than  in  name,  and 
even  stage-coaches  and  guards  were  yet  things  in  the  dim 
future. 

And  here  it  may  be  worth  inquiring  what  subjects  of 
common  conversation  are  likely  to  have  come  within  the 
hearing  of,  and  to  have  influenced,  the  boy  in  whose  career 
we  are  interesting  ourselves  ;  for,  if  a  dull,  or  even  an  ordi 
nary,  lad  cares  little  as  to  what  anybody,  except  himself  and 
his  play-fellows,  are  doing,  a  sharp,  thoughtful,  imaginative 
boy,  such  as  Laud  is  represented  to  have  been,  would  listen 
with  pricked  ears  to  his  elders  retailing  "  the  news."  Fathers 
in  our  time  can  learn  what  is  going  on  all  over  the  world,  as 
they  sit  in  silence  with  their  newspapers  ;  or  impart  their 
ideas  by  writing  to  them ;  when  Laud  was  a  boy,  on  the  con 
trary,  political  information  was  chiefly  obtained  by  hearing 
and  communicated  by  speaking. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was  reigning  in  her  full  glory.  Laud's 
historian  would  naturally  like  to  imagine  that  he  might  have 
seen  her  pass  through  Reading,  accompanied  by  an  impos 
ing  retinue,  and  consider  the  effect  such  a  spectacle  would 
produce  upon  an  excitable  boy,  engendering  in  him  those 
strong  opinions  upon  the  Divine  Right  of  monarchs  for  which 
he  afterwards  became  so  conspicuous  ;  but  truth  compels  me 
to  say  that  the  queen,  after  making  some  stay  at  Reading  when 
he  was  three  years  old,  an  age  at  which  her  appearance  can 
scarcely  have  made  much  impression  upon  him,  did  not  visit 
that  town  again,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  until  he  was  nineteen 
and  probably  at  Oxford.  Nevertheless,  a  regal  sojourn  at  a 
provincial  town  would  leave  many  traditions  behind  it  for 
several  years,  and  little  William  would  be  brought  up  in  an 
atmosphere  of  stories  about  his  excellent  and  almost  super 
human  queen  and  "governess,"  as  she  was  called.  It  is 
pretty  certain,  too,  that  he  would  be  congratulated  on  living 
in  the  reign  of  good  Queen  Bess,  so  escaping  the  "  fires  of 


•573-87-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  7 

Smithfield  "  and  "  Bloody  Mary  "  by  fifteen  years.  The  very 
founder  of  the  "  Church  of  England,  as  by  law  established," 
of  which  he  was  to  become  so  prominent  a  member,  had  been 
living  within  twenty-six  years  of  his  own  time,  and  within 
twenty-seven,  the  great  hero  of  the  Reformation,  Martin 
Luther  himself.  Laud  was  born  only  a  year  too  late  to  be 
a  contemporary  of  a  man  whose  name  became  odious  to  him 
—the  notorious  John  Knox,  and  he  can  scarcely  have  failed 
to  hear  a  good  deal  concerning  him  in  his  boyhood.  He 
would  hear  also  of  another  man  remarkable  in  the  religious 
world,  who  had  died  seven  years  before  his  own  birth  ;  I 
mean  Saint  Ignatius  of  Loyola,  the  Founder  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus.  A  lad  then  unknown  to  fame,  but  one  who  was 
destined  to  be  celebrated  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  Saint 
Francis  of  Sales,  was  six  years  older  than  Laud  ;  and  a  boy 
much  nearer  home,  and  three  years  yet  older,  whose  name, 
William  Shakespeare,  was,  if  possible,  even  less  known,  was 
to  become  far  more  famous  than  the  subject  of  my  memoir. 

A  boy  at  a  grammar  school  in  the  early  years  of  Laud 
might  possibly,  I  will  not  venture  to  say  would  probably, 
hear  some  strong  expressions  used  concerning  an  event  which 
had  been  brought  to  a  conclusion  just  ten  years  before  his 
birth.  This  was  the  great  Council  of  Trent,  of  which  he  had 
much  to  say  and  to  write  as  he  grew  older,  and  there  is 
every  reason  for  believing  that  he  had  been  brought  up  to 
regard  it  with  hatred  and  scorn. 

In  alluding  to  things  ecclesiastical,  it  may  be  worth 
observing  that,  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  the  occupant  of  the 
Archdiocese,  to  which  he  was  one  day  to  succeed,  was 
Archbishop  Parker,  concerning  the  validity  of  whose  orders 
there  has  been  so  much  and  such  bitter  wrangling. 

Perhaps,  at  seven  years  old,  Laud  may  not  have  been 
too  young  to  at  least  partially  comprehend  the  prevailing 
gossip  about  the  persecution  of  the  Puritans,  which  was 
then  being  carried  on  at  the  order  of  their  fierce  enemy, 
Queen  Elizabeth.  As  a  set-off"  against  this,  when  he  was 
eight,  Father  Campion,  the  Jesuit,  was  put  to  the  torture. 
When  he  was  twelve,  the  following  Act  of  Parliament  was 


8  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [5g?-ia. 

passed  : — "  27  Eliz.  cap.  2,  sect.  3."  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
quote  it  at  some  length,  as  it  was  fraught  with  exceedingly 
serious  consequences. 

"  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  aforesaid, 
that  it  shall  not  be  Lawful  to  or  for  any  Jesuit,  Seminary 
Priest,  or  other  such  Priest,  Deacon,  or  Religious  Ecclesiastical 
Person  whatsoever,  being  borne  within  this  Realm,  or  any 
other  Her  Majesty's  Dominions,  and  heretofore  since  the 
said  Feast  of  the  Nativity  of  St  John  Baptist,  in  the  first 
year  of  Her  Majesty's  Reign,  made,  ordained,  or  professed 
or  hereafter  to  be  made,  ordained,  or  professed,  by  any 
Authority  or  Jurisdiction,  derived,  challenged,  or  pretended 
from  the  See  of  Rome,  by,  or  of  what  Name,  Title,  or  Degree 
so-ever,  the  same  shall  be  called  or  known,  to  come  into,  be,  or 
remain  in  any  part  of  this  Realm,  or  any  other  Her  Highness 
Dominions,  after  the  end  of  the  same  forty  days,  other  than 
in  such  special  Cases,  and  upon  such  special  Occasions  only, 
and  for  such  time  only,  as  is  expressed  in  this  Act ;  and  if 
he  do,  then  every  such  Offence  shall  be  taken  and  adjudged 
to  be  High  Treason  ;  and  every  Person  so  offending,  shall 
for  his  Offence  be  adjudged  a  Trayter,  and  shall  suffer,  lose 
and  forfeit,  as  in  case  of  High  Treason.  And  every  Person, 
which  after  the  end  of  the  same  forty  days,  and  after  such 
time  of  departure,  as  is  before  limited  and  appointed,  shall 
wittingly,  and  willingly  receive,  relieve,  comfort,  aid,  or 
maintain,  any  such  Jesuit,  Seminary  Priest,  or  other  Priest, 
Deacon  or  Religious  or  Ecclesiastical  Person,  as  is  aforesaid, 
being  at  liberty,  or  out  of  hold,  knowing  him  to  be  a 
Jesuit,  Seminary  Priest,  or  other  such  Priest,  Deacon,  or 
Religious  or  Ecclesiastical  Person,  as  is  aforesaid,  shall  also 
for  such  offence  be  adjudged  a  Felon,  without  Benefit  of 
Clergy,  and  suffer  Death,  lose  and  forfeit,  as  in  Case  of  one 
Attainted  of  Felony." 

A  lad  of  twelve  would  hear  his  elders  rejoicing  over  the 
passing  of  this  Act  with  awe  and  interest,  and  the  tone  of 
their  remarks  would  probably  have  much  in  common  with  a 
passage  in  Sir  Edward  Coke's  "  Institutes,"1  wherein  he  states 

1  Lib.  3.  cap.  37. 


1573-87.1  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  9 

that  "these  Jesuits  and  Romish  Priests  coming  daily  into 
and  swarming  within  this  Realm,  instilling "  "  Poison  into 
the  Subjects  Hearts,"  "  Her  Majesty  made  it  Treason,"  for 
any  Jesuit  or  priest  to  come  into  her  kingdom,  "  Intending 
thereby  to  keep  them  out  of  the  same,  to  the  end,  that 
they  should  not  infect  any  other  Subjects,  with  such 
Treasonable  and  Damnable  Persuasions  and  Practises,  as 
aforesaid." 

Close  at  hand  were  monuments  of  the  stern  usage  applied 
to  the  professors  of  these  "  Damnable  Persuasions."  Just 
thirty-four  years  before  Laud's  birth,  the  Lord  Abbot  of 
Reading  Abbey — and  a  great  Abbot  was  he,  mitred  and  by 
right  a  peer  of  parliament,  only  ranking,  it  is  said,  after  the 
Abbots  of  Glastonbury  and  St  Albans, — was  drawn,  hanged, 
and  quartered,  with  two  of  his  monks  to  keep  him  com 
pany,  at  the  pleasure  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  "  for  denying  the 
king's  supremacie."  This  martyrdom  would,  no  doubt,  be 
represented  as  a  mete  and  decent  "  execution  "  to  the  boy, 
Laud.  Had  not  the  excellent  Cromwell  written  to  the  very 
bishop  of  the  diocese  himself,  when  he  had  remonstrated  :— 
"  I  can  take  your  writing,  or  thys  heate  of  your  stomach, 
every  whyt  as  well  as  I  can,  I  trust,  beware  of  flatterers." 
By  King  Henry  VIII.  and  his  admirers,  it  seems  to  have 
been  somewhat  reluctantly  admitted,  that  the  first  power 
was  the  Almighty ;  but  they  were  equally  certain  that  the 
second  was  the  King's  Gracious  Majesty,  and  the  third  the 
bishops,  subject  to  the  pleasure  of  the  king. 

At  Laud's  birth,  there  were  still  living  three  of  the  old 
Catholic  bishops  who  had  resigned  their  sees — as  they  all 
had  done,  to  a  man — rather  than  adopt  the  new  religion. 
These  were  Heath,  Archbishop  of  York  ;  Watson,  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  ;  and  Goldwell,  Bishop  of  St  Asaph.  Only  eleven 
years  before  Laud  was  born,  Jewell  wrote  to  Peter  Martyr: 
"  The  Marian  Bishops  are  still  confined  in  the  Tower."1  The 
last  of  these  bishops  (Goldwell)  died  when  Laud  was  twelve 
years  old. 

When  Laud  was  fourteen,  the  national  fury  was  stirred  up 

1  "  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  Catholic  Hierarchy."     Bridget!  and  Knox,  p.  40. 


io  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [^7\4. 

against  the  Catholics  by  the  news  that  that  very  Catholic 
king,  Philip  of  Spain,  had  sent  a  great  Armada  to  take 
possession  of  England  and  depose  its  queen.  When  the 
English  shores,  with  those  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  had 
been  strewn  with  its  helpless  wreckage,  although  a  mad  joy 
took  the  place  of  frenzied  terror,  the  popular  animosity 
against  the  co-religionists  of  its  author  in  no  degree  abated. 
In  the  opinion  of  most  loyal  Englishmen,  the  destruction 
of  King  Philip's  great  ships  in  the  seas  surrounding  these 
islands  was  as  much  a  divine  judgment  upon  the  wicked,  as 
that  of  Pharaoh  and  his  hosts  in  the  Red  Sea ;  and  as  Philip 
meant  Popery  (by  the  way,  almost  his  first  war  had  been 
against  the  Pope),  it  was  also  a  divine  judgment,  nay,  more, 
a  divine  decision  and  pronouncement  upon  the  wickedness 
and  falseness  of  that  religion.  So  thought  the  English 
Protestants ;  and  I  would  ask  every  fair-minded  Catholic 
to  make  due  allowances  for  my  hero,  if,  at  the  impressionable 
age  of  fourteen,  when  he  heard  of  the  approach  to  his  native 
land  of  a  dreaded  power,  with  the  professed  object  of  over 
throwing  its  monarchy,  government,  and  religion,  in  the 
name  of  a  religion  other  than  his  own,  he  began  to  hate 
that  religion,  and  if,  when  he  heard  of  the  utter  rout  of  the 
enemy,  he  thought  that,  once  crushed,  it  should  never  again 
be  permitted  to  raise  its  head,  and  that  every  Englishman 
who  professed  it  was  a  dangerous  rebel. 

Earlier  in  the  same  year,  another  blow  had  been  struck 
at  Catholicism  in  this  country,  in  the  execution  of  Mary, 
Queen  of  Scots.  Popular  feeling  in  our  own  days  is,  on  the 
whole,  rather  in  favour  of  that  unfortunate  queen  ;  but  it  is 
highly  improbable  that  much  sympathy  would  be  felt  for  her 
misfortunes  in  the  unromantic  home  of  an  English  burgher, 
loyal  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  her  own  times.  He  would 
regard  her  as  a  traitorous  rebel,  who  would  upset  the  then 
ruling  powers  if  she  could,  and  any  disturbance  of  the  ruling 
powers  might  disorganise  the  woollen  and  tailoring  trades, 
and  lessen  the  profits  of  Mr  William  Laud.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  news  that  her  head  had  been  severed  from  her  body, 
the  bells  were  rung,  and  bonfires  were  lighted  in  and  about 


[JE8t8-I5<  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  n 

London,  nor  is  it  likely  that  so  happy  an  incident  would 
escape  public  recognition  at  loyal  Reading. 

There  was  perhaps  more  heartfelt  joy  throughout  the 
country  in  the  following  year,  at  the  death  of  the  queen's 
favourite,  Leicester,  who  held,  among  others  of  greater 
importance,  the  post  of  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  which  many 
years  later  fell  to  the  lot  of  Laud. 

We  now  come  to  a  very  important  period  in  Laud's  life, 
his  career  at  Oxford.  Probably  because  the  mayor  and  civic 
authorities  had  the  right  of  nomination  to  a  scholarship 
there,  he  was  sent  to  St  John's  College.  It  was  then  a  very 
new  establishment,  having  been  founded  only  thirty-four 
years  earlier  by  Sir  Thomas  White ;  and  it  was  just  a  year 
younger  than  Trinity.  The  spirit  of  these  two  new  colleges 
was  supposed  to  be  rather  in  the  direction  of  a  variety  of 
knowledge  than  of  theology  and  the  classics,  and  Sir  Thomas 
Pope,  who  founded  the  last  named,  said  : — "  I  remembre, 
when  I  was  a  young  scholler  at  Eton,  the  Greek  tongue  was 
growing  apace,  the  studie  of  which  is  now  alate  much  de 
cayed."  When  the  advantage  of  a  classical  education  was 
advocated,  he  replied  : — "  This  purpose  I  will  lyke  ;  but  I 
fear  the  tymes  will  not  bear  it  now." 

Laud's  father  would  feel  an  additional  interest  in  sending 
his  son  to  St  John's,  because  its  founder  had  followed  the 
same  trade  as  himself  in  the  same  town  of  Reading.  Having 
left  it  for  London,  of  which  city  he  became  Lord  Mayor,  and 
in  it  distinguished  himself  for  his  services  during  the  rebellion 
of  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  receiving  knighthood  as  a  reward 
from  the  hands  of  Queen  Mary,  Sir  Thomas  White  amassed 
a  large  fortune,  and  is  understood  to  have  first  intended  to 
build  a  college  at  Reading,  but  afterwards  to  have  decided  to 
do  so  at  either  Oxford  or  Cambridge.  I  dwell  upon  some 
details  here  because  the  name  of  Laud  is  so  intimately 
connected  with  St  John's  College,  and  if  Sir  Thomas  White 
founded  it,  Laud  did  much  for  it  in  the  way  of  building  and 
adornment. 

The  story  goes  that  White  dreamed  that  he  should  build 
a  college  at  a  place  where  he  should  find  two  elms  of  equal 


12  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  |jJt.iS. 

height  growing  out  of  the  same  tree,  and  a  third  near  them, 
of  lower  stature ;  that  he  went  to  Cambridge  and  failed  to 
find  them,  but  afterwards  discovered  them  "  without  the 
North  Gate  of  the  City  of  Oxford,"  on  the  site  of  the  present 
college  of  St  John  the  Baptist.1  Eventually  he  erected  that 
college  at  which  he  gave  elective  scholarships  to  the  towns 
of  Reading,  Coventry,  Bristol,  and  Tunbridge. 

1  Coates's  "Hist,  of  Reading." 


CHAPTER  II. 

LAUD  was  fortunate  enough  to  escape  being  at  Oxford 
under  the  chancellorship  of  Leicester,  by  two  years  ;  but  that 
chancellor's  works  remained.  As  Huber  says  of  him  :— 
"  The  character  of  this  chancellor  and  his  coterie  is  enough  to 
explain  even  the  worst  phenomena  of  Oxford  ;  nor  can  we  be 
surprised  that  as  soon  as  he  recognised  in  the  University  a 
useful  tool,  he  used  it  unscrupulously.  He  bestowed  upon 
his  servants  and  creatures  all  academic  influence  and  emolu 
ments,  without  care  for  the  rights  and  claims  of  men  or 
things." l 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  realise  the  condition  of  Oxford  at  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  and  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
centuries.  The  author  just  quoted  tells  us  that  only  in  1638 
was  the  principle  introduced  "of  a  real  examination  as  a 
preparation  for  the  academic  degree,  the  granting  of  which 
had  until  then  depended  upon  a  plurality  of  votes,  although 
nominally  upon  the  old  scholastic  exercises,  which  for  a  long 
time  had  become  a  practical  nullity  ;  "  and  he  adds  in  a  foot 
note  : — "Real  examinations  may  have  taken  place  in  Oxford 
up  to  the  thirteenth  century  ;  but  they  had  completely  fallen 
into  disuse  at  all  events  after  the  end  of  this  century." 

As  to  the  discipline  prevailing  at  Oxford,  an  undated 
document  among  the  Domestic  State  Papers,2  but  assigned 
to  the  time  of  Laud's  boyhood,  may  give  some  idea. 

"  12  or  15  persones,  most  M"  of  Arte," — Masters  of  Arts, 
and  not  undergraduates,  be  it  observed  -  -  "of  Christe's 
Church,  standing  in  ye  highwaye,  there  cam  by  them  in 
God's  peace  and  the  Quene's,  a  pore  myllner  a  horse  backe, 

1  The  "English  Universities."     From  German  of  V.  A.  Huber.    Ed.  F.  W. 
Newman. 
2  Vol.  xxiv.  19. 

'3 


i4  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

wlh  five  and  six  small  gristes  under  him,  whome  they  torned 
besides  his  horse,  and  threwe  the  same  griste  downe,  some  in 
one  place  and  some  in  another,  and  some  in  wet  and  fowle 
places ;  and  as  many  of  them  as  could  ryde  on  the  said  horse 
got  uppone  him,  and  rode  up  and  downe  ye  towne ;  and  the 
poore  miller  went  after  them,  desyrenge  them  to  have  his 
horse  agayne,  for  that  he  was  a  servaunt,  and  shold  have 
blame  for  his  long  taryeinge."  "  Beinge  also  requested 
gentlye  to  delyver  the  poore  myller  his  horse,  by  divers 
honest  inhabytants  of  the  towne,  they  gave  them  very  evyll 
and  opprobrious  words,  unmete  to  be  repeated."  "  Havinge 
had  their  pleasure  in  rydeinge,  they  whipped  the  poore 
fellowe  wth  his  own  whippe."  "Yet  not  so  contente,  they 
tooke  his  hat  oute  of  his  hand,  and  rent  yt  all  in  peeces,  and 
so  departed  away,  levinge  the  poore  myller  wthout  recom 
pense  for  his  injuries,  being  a  very  evill  example."  And 
further  on — "  No  man's  servant  nor  the  Mr  himself,  can  sit  at 
their  owen  dores,  nor  goe  about  their  busynes  in  the  eveninge 
quietly,  but  he  shalbe  beaten,  and  havinge  any  thing  in  his 
hand,  yl  shalbe  taken  awaye  frome  him,  as  wyne  and  wyne-pot. 
And  yf  a  man  goe  wth  a  lanthorne  to  see  his  waye,  yt  shalbe 
smytten  out  of  his  hand  and  broken,  and  the  party  beaten.'* 
Moreover,  "  certeyne  of  the  University,"  "  wth  swords  and 
bucklers  and  clubs,  and  other  weapons,"  "  went  up  and  downe 
the  streats,  misusinge  both  men  and  women,  wth  opprobryous 
words,  they  lienge  in  their  beds,  neythur  thincking  nor  doinge 
any  harm  to  them ;  and  all  (as  yl  should  seme)  was  to 
begynne  a  new  ryot,  or  rather  an  insurrection." 

The  most  violent  town-and-gown  rows  of  modern  times 
were  nothing  to  these,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  multiply 
evidence  that  a  spirit  of  wild  and  coarse  lawlessness  pre 
vailed  among  the  members  of  the  university  for  many  years 
after  Leicester's  chancellorship  had  ended.  As  time  went 
on,  and  Laud  himself  became  chancellor,  strong  measures 
were  taken  to  repress  this  disgraceful  condition  of  things. 

In  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  the  old  scholastic  philosophy 
was  tabooed  at  Oxford,  as  was  everything  that  was  sup 
posed  to  have  any  Catholic  tendency.  Under  Leicester's 


fe  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 5 

influence,  Puritanical  teaching  was  encouraged  there,  al 
though  his  royal  mistress  would  have  had  it  otherwise  ;  but 
it  was  difficult  to  regulate  the  religious  tone  of  a  university 
to  the  exact  taste  of  a  queen  of  whom  De  Silva  could  write  : 
— "  The  Catholics  hate  her  because  she  is  not  a  Papist,  the 
Protestants  because  she  is  less  furious  and  violent  in  heresy 
than  they  would  like  to  see  her."  1 

Shortly  before  Laud's  arrival  at  Oxford,  there  was  a  fierce 
contest  as  to  the  election  of  a  successor  to  Leicester  in 
the  chancellorship.  The  champion  of  the  Puritanical  party 
in  the  Church  of  England  was  the  Earl  of  Essex,  that  of  the 
High  Churchmen  was  Lord  Chancellor  Hatton.  The  latter 
obtained  most  votes  in  Convocation  and  was  elected  ; 
but  his  reign  was  short,  as  he  died  in  1591,  and  Lord 
Treasurer  Buckhurst  became  chancellor  in  his  stead. 

Either  the  religious  views  of  Laud  were  greatly  influenced 
by  his  tutor,  or  they  were  two  men  of  singularly  sympathetic 
ideas.  Buckeridge  belonged  to  a  party,  already  in  existence 
and  gradually  increasing  in  power  and  numbers,  which 
endeavoured  to  take  its  stand  midway  between  Puritanism 
and  Catholicism,  a  party  which,  even  in  our  own  days  shows 
no  signs  of  failing  ;  on  the  one  hand,  it  declaimed  against 
Calvinism,  and  on  the  other  against  "  Popery."  Each  of  its 
clerical  members  had,  as  it  were,  awakened  with  the  sudden 
discovery,  "Hullo!  I  am  a  priest!"  The  rest — the  "sacra 
mental  grace,"  the  u  apostolical  succession,"  the  "  power  of 
absolution,"  the  "  branch-of-the-Catholic-Church  "  theory,  and 
so  on,  followed  as  corollaries. 

There  had  indeed  been  much  to  bring  about  a  reaction 
from  the  state  of  things  which  had  been  tolerated  by  the 
indifference  of  the  new  Church.  Queen  Elizabeth  wrote  to 
Archbishop  Parker  of  "  the  unclean  and  negligent  order  and 
spare  keeping  of  the  houses  of  prayer,"  a  thing  that "  breedeth 
no  small  offence  and  scandal  to  see;"  and  of  the  "unmeet 
and  unseemly  tables  with  foul  cloths,  for  the  communion  of 
the  Sacrament ;  "  and  of  "  the  place  of  prayer  desolate  of  all 
cleanliness  and  of  meet  ornament  for  such  a  place,  whereby 
1  Froude's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  xi.  p.  292. 


1 6  Life  of  A rchbishop  L and. 

it  might  be  known  a  place  provided  for  divine  service."  I 
quote  from  Mr  Froude.  The  same  author  tells  us  that  the 
Bishop  of  London,  a  few  years  before  Laud's  time,  complained 
of  the  Protestant  exiles  who  came  from  other  countries  and 
leavened  the  newly-made  Church  of  England,  as  "  for  the 
most  part  facinorosi,  ebriosi,  et  sectariir  And,  about  a  year 
later,  Lord  Sussex  wrote  to  Cecil  : — "  The  people  without 
discipline,  utterly  devoid  of  religion,  come  to  service  as  to  a 
May  game  ;  the  ministers  for  disability  and  greediness,  be 
had  in  contempt  ;  and  the  wise  fear  more  the  impiety  of  the 
licentious  professors  than  the  superstitions  of  the  erroneous 
Papists." 

The  bitterness  of  the  Puritans,  again,  was  in  itself  sufficient 
to  awaken  a  reaction.  Two  black-letter  fly-sheets  2  of  about 
the  year  1571,  speak  of  "  abolishinge  and  abhoringe  all 
tradicions  and  inventions  of  man  whatsoever,"  of  "  the  fylthye 
cannon  lawe,"  the  "  abominable  "  "  reliques  of  Anti-Christe," 
"  the  filthyness  and  pollution  of  these  detestable  traditions," 
this  "  idolatrouse  trash,"  and  "  them  that  have  receaved  these 
markes  of  the  Romysh  beast"  The  writer  of  one  of  them 
goes  on  to  say: — "I  will  not  beautifie  with  my  presence 
those  filthy  ragges  which  bryng  the  heavenly  worde  of  the 
Eternell  our  Lorde  God  into  bondage, subjection,  and  slaverie." 
"  They,"  the  Episcopalians,  "  glad  and  strengthen  the  papists 
in  their  errour,  and  greve  the  godlie."  "  God  geve  us 
strength  styl  to  stryve."  A  supplication  to  the  queen,  which 
accompanies  them,  beseeches  her  "  now  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  her  reign,"  to  "  imitate  Jehosaphat,  and  cast  down 
idolatry."  Let  her  "  cut  down,  root  out,  and  utterly  destroy 
all  monuments  of  idolatry,  as  forked  caps  and  tippets,  sur 
plices,  copes,  starch-cakes,  godfathers,  and  godmothers,"  &c. 

Nor  was  all  the  strong  language  used  on  the  Calvinist 
side.  One  of  the  opposite  party,  when  it  got  into  full  power, 
wrote  : — "  We  "  "  have  kept  ourselves  warm  with  the  hopes 
of  rubbing,  fubbing,  and  scrubbing  those  scurvy,  filthy,  dirty, 
nasty,  lousy,  itchy,  scabby,"  "  stinking,  slovenly,"  "  logger- 

1  Froude's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  p.  468. 

2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pap.,"  vol.  xx.  Nos.  107,  107  i.,  107  ii. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  17 

headed,  foolish,  insolent,  proud,  beggarly,  impertinent,  absurd, 
grout-headed,  villainous,  barbarous,  bestial,  false,  lying, 
roguish,  devilish,  long-eared,  short-haired,  damnable,  atheisti 
cal,  puritanical  crew."1  I  have  omitted  the  strongest  adjectives. 

No  life  of  Laud  would  be  complete  without  some  notice  of 
the  position  of  the  rival  parties  in  the  Church  of  England 
during  his  university  career,  and  this  must  be  my  apology 
for  dwelling  upon  it  at  some  length. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  less  than  twenty  years 
before  Laud's  time,  one  Anglican  bishop,  Ridley,  who  had 
died  for  his  cause,  had  knocked  down  the  altars  in  the 
churches  of  his  diocese,  and  substituted  tables  in  the  middle 
of  the  buildings,  which  the  Catholics  called  "  oyster-boards  "  ; 
that  Bishop  Hooper,  who  had  also  been  put  to  death,  had  for 
a  long  time  refused  altogether  to  wear  any  Episcopal  vest 
ments  ;  and  that  Bishop  Ponet  had  wished  that  the  title  of 
bishop  should  be  abandoned.2  About  a  dozen  years  before 
the  birth  of  Laud,  Bishop  Jewel  showed  his  opinions  pretty 
plainly  in  his  letters.  "  We  have  exhibited,"  he  says,  "  to 
the  queen  all  our  articles  of  religion  and  doctrine,  and  have 
not  departed  in  the  least  degree  from  the  confession  of 
Zurich."  This  is  pretty  strong,  considering  the  opinions  at 
Zurich  !  "  As  to  your  expressing  a  hope  that  our  bishops 
will  be  consecrated  without  any  superstitious  and  offensive 
ceremonies  ;  you  mean,  I  suppose,  without  oil,  without  chrism, 
without  the  tonsure.  And  you  are  not  mistaken  ;  for  the 
sink  would  indeed  have^been  emptied  to  no  purpose  if  we  had 
suffered  these  dregs  to  settle  at  the  bottom.  Those  oily, 
shaven,  portly  hypocrites  we  have  sent  back  to  Rome,  whence 
we  first  imported  them."3 

In  a  publication,  entitled  A  Retentive  to  Stay,  &c.,  London, 
1580,  is  to  be  found  the  following  elegant  profession  of  faith  : 
— "  With  all  our  heart  we  abhore,  defie,  detest,  and  spit  at 
your  stinking,  greasy,  anti-Christian  Orders."  Nor  must  the 
opinions  of  the  Anglican  bishops  shortly  preceding  Laud's 
days  be  overlooked.  Archbishop  Cranmer,  having  been 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pap.,"  vol.  cccxxiv.  No.  50. 

2Macaulay's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i.  3  "  Zurich  Letters,"  xxii. 

6 


1 8  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  [Senpvin. 

asked  a  question  by  Henry  VIII.,  replied  : — "  The  civil 
magistrates  under  the  King  be  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord 
Treasurer,  admirals,  sheriffs  ;  the  ministers  of  God's  Word 
under  his  Majesty  be  bishops,  parsons,  vicars,  and  such 
other  priests  as  be  appointed  by  his  Highness  to  that 
ministration  ;  as  for  example,  the  Bishop  of  Canterbury,  the 
Bishop  of  Durham,  the  Parson  of  Winwiche,  &c.,  all  the  said 
officers  be  appointed,  assigned,  and  elected  in  every  place  by 
the  laws  and  orders  of  kings  and  princes.  In  the  admission 
of  many  of  these  offices  be  divers  comely  ceremonies  and 
solemnities,  and  which  be  not  of  necessity ',  but  only  for  a  good 
order  and  seemly  fashion  ;  for  if  such  offices  and  ministrations 
were  committed  without  such  solemnity ',  they  were  nevertheless 
didy  committed,  and  there  is  no  more  promise  of  God  that  grace 
is  given  in  the  committing  of  the  ecclesiastical  office  than  it  is  in 
the  committing  of  the  civil  office" 

When  asked  : — "  Whether  in  the  New  Testament  be  re 
quired  any  consecration  of  a  bishop  or  a  priest,  or  only 
appointing  to  the  office  be  sufficient  ?  "  he  answered  : — "  In 
the  New  Testament  he  that  is  appointed  to  be  a  bishop  or  a 
priest  needeth  no  consecration  by  the  Scripture,  for  election  or 
appointment  is  sufficient^  And  to  the  same  question,  Bishop 
Barlow,  who  is  reputed  to  have  consecrated  Archbishop 
Parker,  through  whom  all  the  Anglican  clergy  claim  their 
orders,  replied  : — "  Only  the  appointing." *  Besides  all  this, 
Barlow,  when  he  was  Bishop  of  St  David's,  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  "  if  the  King's  Grace,  being  Supreme  Head  of 
the  Church  of  England,  did  choose,  denominate,  and  elect 
any  layman  being  learned  to  be  a  bishop,  that  he  so  chosen 
would  be  as  good  a  Bishop  as  he  is  or  the  best  in  England." 2 

These  quotations  show  that  neither  Cranmer  nor  Barlow 
believed  in  Apostolical  succession,  and  it  follows  that  they 
cannot  have  had  the  intention  of  imparting  that  which  they 
not  only  claimed  to  have  no  power  to  impart,  but  did  not 
even  believe  to  exist.  As  Macaulay  says  : — "  The  founders 

1  Burnet,  quoted  by  Fr.   Gallwey,  pp.   449,   450,  451,  in  his   "Lectures  on 
Ritualism." 

2  "  Kennet  Collection,"  vol.  xlvi.,  quoted  by  Fr.  Gallwey. 


xvith  cent.]  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  1 9 

of  the  Anglican  Church  had  retained  episcopacy  as  an 
ancient,  a  decent,  and  a  convenient  ecclesiastical  polity,  but 
had  not  declared  that  form  of  church  government  to  be  of 
divine  institution." 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  mistake  to  dwell  too  much  upon 
the  High  Church  Orthodoxy  of  Laud,  as  if  he  had  been  the 
inventor,  or  originator  of  that  school  of  religious  thought  and 
ceremony.  Archbishop  Bancroft,  who  occupied  the  See  of 
Canterbury,  had  zealously  "  muzled "  the  "  Puritan  faction," 
as  Heylin  tells  us  ; 1  and  if,  as  was  undoubtedly  the  fact, 
many  clergymen  never  used  a  surplice  when  they  administered 
the  communion  at  their  "  oyster-boards "  in  the  middle  of 
their  churches,  others  "  did  in  the  ministration  of  the  Sacra 
ments  bestir  themselves  in  a  White  Vesture."  2 

If  any  single  bishop  can  be  justly  called  the  founder  of 
High  Anglicanism,  it  should  be  rather  Andrews  than  Laud. 
In  his  reply  to  Bellarmin,  Bishop  Andrews  says : — "  We 
acknowledge  a  presence  as  true  and  real  as  you  do,  but  we 
determine  nothing  rashly  as  to  the  manner  of  it."3  In  his 
writings  he  affirms  that  to  bishops  were  "  transferred  the 
chief  part  of  the  Apostolic  function,  the  oversight  of  the 
Church ;  and  the  power  of  commanding,  correcting,  and 
ordaining."4  It  is  evident,  however,  that  he  considered  these 
special  powers  to  have  been  "  transferred "  to  them  more 
for  the  sake  of  discipline  and  convenience,  and  as  a  sort  of 
afterthought  under  unexpected  circumstances,  than  as  hav 
ing  any  supernatural  character.  Accordingly  he  proceeds  to 
add  : — "  The  occasion  which  caused  the  apostles  to  appoint 
bishops  seemeth  to  have  been  schisms."  It  necessarily 
follows,  of  course,  that  without  the  schisms  no  bishops  would 
have  been  required. 

Heylin  tells  us  that  Andrews  introduced  the  custom  for 
the  clergy  of  making  an  "  obeysance  towards  the  East, 
before  they  betook  themselves  to  their  seats  "  in  church.5  In 
Canterburies  Doome,  by  Wm.  Prynne,  page  134,  there  is  a 
description  of  Bishop  Andrews'  private  chapel,  with  an 

1  "  Cyp.  Angl.,"  pp.  57-8.  2  Ib.  p.  6.  3  Ib.  p.  23. 

4  "Lib.  of  Angl.  Cath.  Theol.  Andrews,"  p.  356.        5  "  Cyp.  Angl."  p.  16. 


2o  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

elaborate  plan.  On  the  communion  table,  leaning  against 
the  wall,  is  a  very  large  cushion,  with  a  great  alms-dish 
resting  against  it,  an  arrangement  which  still  prevails,  or  till 
lately  prevailed,  in  certain  English  cathedrals.  On  either 
side  was  a  candle-stick  and  candle,  although,  be  it  observed, 
he  states  in  his  writings,  that  "  the  burning  of  tapers  in  their 
churches  at  noon-day  is  altogether  a  pagan  custom."  l  At 
the  north  and  south  ends  of  the  table  were  "  stuffed  kneeling 
stools."  A  few  feet  from  the  communion-rails,  right  in  the 
middle  of  the  chapel,  and  in  front  of  the  lectern,  which  was 
apparently  the  most  honoured  thing  in  the  building,  and 
was  raised  on  three  steps,  stood  a  table  "for  music."  On 
this  music-table  was  a  censer  and  incense  boat,  "  wherein  ye 
clarke  putteth  frankincense  at  ye  reading  of  the  first  lesson." 
Among  the  other  properties  of  the  sanctuary  was  a  silver-gilt 
canister  for  wafers.  Possibly,  like  the  candles,  the  wafer- 
canister  and  the  censer  were  for  ornament  and  not  for  use  ; 
otherwise,  Bishop  Andrews  was  rather  an  advanced  ritualist 
for  his  day.  But,  like  not  a  few  modern  ritualists,  he  was 
very  "  low  "  in  some  respects.  For  instance,  it  is  clear  that 
he  did  not  encourage  weekly  "  celebrations,"  and  would  not 
tolerate  them  except  on  Sundays.  "  The  sacraments,"  he 
says,  "  and  discipline  are  for  the  Sabbath  day,  but  not  for 
every  Sabbath.2  Again,  he  would  not  admit  that  either  the 
Catholics  or  the  Easterns  could  possibly  interpret  Scripture 
aright.  He  says  : — "  And  so  both  jointly  and  severally  their 
grounds  are  false,  and  ours  are  the  only  true  means  of  inter 
pretation."3  Like  many  of  the  loftiest  of  modern  High- 
Churchmen,  too,  he  hated  Catholics,  and  especially  Jesuits. 
"  I  conceive,"  he  observes,  that  "  the  Jesuits "  "  resemble 
the  heathen  priests  of  the  Indians,  called  brachmans,  men 
tioned  by  Osorius  ;  he  saith,  '  these  heathen  clergy-priests 
also  study  philosophy  and  the  mathematical  arts,  insomuch 
that  by  their  learning  and  counterfeit  holiness  they  continue 
all  their  lifetime  the  singular  contrivers  of  all  fraud  and 
villany.'"4 

1  "Lib.  of  Angl.  Cath.  Theol.  Andrews,"  p.  372.  2  Ib.  p.  163. 

3  Ib.  p.  61.  4  Ib.  p.  373. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  21 

Besides  his  candlesticks  and  wafers,  and  censers  and 
incense,  he  had  taken  a  high  flight  in  drawing  up,  and  using 
with  some  ceremony,  forms  for  the  consecration  of  churches 
and  chalices.  Now  I  want  the  reader  specially  to  bear  in 
mind  all  these  High-Church  practices  of  Andrews.  To  say 
that  Laud  "  revived,"  or  introduced  most  of  these  things 
into  the  Church  of  England  is  a  mistake.  In  all  his  life 
he  never  did  anything  "higher"  than  Andrews  had  done, 
unless  it  were  the  putting  of  a  cross,  and,  in  at  least 
one  instance,  a  crucifix,  over  a  communion-table.  Cer 
tainly  he  greatly  spread  and  even  enforced  some  of  the 
ritualistic  customs  of  Andrews,  and,  what  was  more,  he 
was  abused  for  them,  and  he  suffered  for  them  ;  but,  so 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  he  never  made  a 
single  step  in  advance  of  Bishop  Andrews,  or  probably  of 
one  or  two  other  bishops  who  preceded  or  were  contempor 
aneous  with  him,  either  in  doctrine  or  in  ritual.  Laud  was 
energetic,  determined,  and  thorough  ;  but  he  was  not  re 
markable  for  originality,  nor  can  I  find  that  he  sought  out 
Catholic  usages  and  endeavoured  to  implant  them  in  the 
new  Anglican  establishment.  Early  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  he  obtained  the  friendship  of  Andrews,  became 
devotedly  attached  to  him,  and  took  his  theology  and  ritual 
as  his  model.  When  impeached  for  high  treason  many 
years  later,  on  account  of  teachings  and  practices  which 
were  said  to  be  popish,  his  chief  defence  was  that  he  had 
only  taught  and  done  things  which  Bishop  Andrews  had 
done  and  taught  before  him. 

Another  bishop,  "high"  as  to  the  real-presence,  was  Bishop 
Morton.  He  says  "  that  the  question  betwixt  us  and  the 
Papists  is  not  concerning  the  Real  Presence,  which  the 
Protestants  (as  their  own  Jesuites  witness)  do  also  profess."  l 
It  must,  indeed,  have  been  puzzling  for  the  faithful  Anglican 
to  know  in  which  of  his  pastors  to  believe,  when  another 
bishop,  Bishop  Cooper,  "  in  language  remarkably  clear  and 
strong,"  maintained,  "that  no  form  of  Church  government  is 
divinely  ordained,  that  Protestant  communities,  in  establish- 

l"Cyp.  Angl." 


22  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

ing  different  forms,  have  only  made  a  legitimate  use  of  their 
Christian  liberty ;  and  that  Episcopacy  is  peculiarly  suited 
to  England  because  the  English  constitution  is  monarchical."1 
It  may  not  be  unnatural  for  outsiders  to  retort  that  there 
are  even  more  dissensions  in  the  Anglican  Establishment 
now  than  there  were  then.  This  I  do  not  deny  ;  but,  since 
then,  three  hundred  years  have  given  it  a  certain  stability, 
dignity,  and  maturity,  and  time  has  proved  to  its  rival  schools 
that  they  can  co-exist  within  it  without  shattering  its  fabric ; 
moreover,  not  a  few,  nor  they  the  least  influential,  of  its 
members,  pride  themselves  more  upon  its  comprehensiveness 
than  upon  any  other  of  its  virtues.  That  particular  virtue 
had  not  been  discovered  at  the  period  of  which  I  write. 

1  Macaulay's  "Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i. 


CHAPTER  III. 

IF  Buckeridge,  Laud's  tutor  at  St  John's,  was  "  the  leading 
controversialist  in  sacramental  matters,"1  on  the  High-Church 
side,  other,  and  higher  authorities  in  the  university  were  of 
a  very  different  stamp.  Abbot,  who  afterwards  became 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  Master  of  University  College. 
As  Mr  Benson  says  of  him  2 : — "  His  favourite  tenet  was  the 
descent  of  the  visible  Church,  not  through  the  main  unmis 
takable  channel,  but  through  by-waters  and  side-streams. 
That  a  man  should  have  gravely  held  the  truth  to  have 
passed  through  Berengarians,  Albigenses,  Wicklifites,  Hus 
sites,  to  Luther  and  Calvin,  is  nearly  incredible  ;  yet  this  was 
the  text  of  Abbot."  Another  strong  Calvinist,  and  a  corre 
spondent  of  Calvin  himself,  was  the  President  of  Magdalen, 
Dr  Lawrence  Humphrey,  the  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity, 
and  a  disciple  of  Zwinglius.  When  such  a  man  was  lecturing 
in  the  divinity  schools,  the  theological  tone  at  Oxford  was  not 
likely  to  be  very  Episcopalian.  The  President  of  Corpus 
Christi  College,  Dr  Rainolds,  was  also  a  strong  Puritan. 

The  year  after  his  arrival,  Laud  obtained  the  coveted 
scholarship  in  his  college.  Learning  and  science  were  at  this 
time  beginning  to  make  rapid  strides,  and  to  the  very  year 
in  which  Laud  was  elected  a  scholar,  is  commonly  attributed 
the  invention  of  one  of  the  most  important  instruments  of 
science — the  microscope,  although  it  was  probably  known  in 
a  primitive  form  before  that  date. 

Of  Laud's  undergraduate  life  we  know  little.  Wood 
describes  him  as  "  a  very  forward,  confident,  and  zealous 
person."  He  was  made  a  fellow  of  his  college  in  his  fourth 
year  at  Oxford,  when  he  was  a  few  months  under  twenty. 
Early  in  the  following  year,  his  father  died,  and  although  his 

1  Benson,  p.  18.  2  Ib.  p.  19. 

33 


24  Life  of  A rchbishop  L and.  [xvith cent. 

mother  was  to  have  the  income  of  her  husband's  property 
for  her  life,  his  own  fortune,  if  a  small  one,  was  assured,  and 
he  was  in  no  danger  of  becoming  one  of  the  penurious  clergy 
so  common  at  that  period. 

"A  gentle  squier  would  gladly  entertaine, 
Into  his  house  some  trencher  chaplaine  : " 

" he  would  contented  be 

To  give  five  markes  and  winter  liverie." 

Bishop  Hall. 

Or  as  Peacham  says  in  his  Complete  Gentleman  : — "  If  they  " 
(English  gentlemen)  "can  procure  some  poure  Bachelor  of 
Arts  from  the  Universities  to  teach  their  children  to  say 
grace,  and  serve  the  cure  of  an  impropriation  ;  who,  wanting 
means  and  friends,  will  be  content  upon  the  promise  of  £10 
a  yeare  ;  at  his  first  coming  to  be  pleased  with  £5."  A 
modern  writer  says  : — "  Harrison  admits,  with  a  sigh,  that 
the  lower  ecclesiastics  were  generally  despised  ;  but  he  seeks 
to  explain  the  fact,  less  by  their  ignorance,  and  immorality, 
than  by  their  poverty."1  Laud  had  the  good  fortune  not  to 
be  one  of  these. 

The  mention  of  the  clerics  of  the  period,  reminds  me  of  one 
professing  a  different  religion,  who  died  the  year  after  that  of 
Laud's  father's  death.  I  am  thinking  of  St  Philip  Neri,  the 
founder  of  the  Congregation  of  Oratorians.  Everyone  knows 
the  story  that  whenever  he  met  the  students  of  the  English 
College  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  he  used  to  take  off  his  hat 
and  salute  them.  He  could  not  but  know  that  those  among 
their  number  who  should  return  as  priests  to  their  native 
shores  would  be  in  imminent  danger  of  death  ;  that,  in 
fact,  such  a  return  would  of  itself  be  a  capital  offence ;  and 
many  of  them,  as  they  returned  his  salute,  might  well  have 
exclaimed  : — "  Morituri  te  salutant." 

As  Lingard  says 2 : — "  From  the  defeat  of  the  Armada  till 
the  death  of  the  queen,  during  the  lapse  of  fourteen  years, 
the  Catholics  groaned  under  the  pressure  of  incessant  per 
secution.  Sixty-one  clergymen,  forty-seven  laymen,  and  two 

1  Huber's  "  Eng  Univ.,"  vol.  i.  p.  341. 

2  Lingard's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vi.  p.  257. 


xvith  cent.]  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  2  5 

gentlewomen  suffered  capital  punishment  for  some  or  other 
of  the  spiritual  felonies  and  treasons  which  had  been  lately 
created."  Besides  these,  many  Catholics  were  imprisoned, 
or  fined,  or  whipped,  or  had  their  ears  bored  with  a  hot  iron, 
or  were  racked,  or  otherwise  tortured  for  the  sake  of  their 
religion.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  these  persecutions,  Mr  Froude 
tells  us  that  shortly  before  Laud's  first  arrival  at  Oxford,  it 
was  a  nursery  for  Jesuits.1  Father  Edmund  Campian,  the 
Jesuit,  had  been  a  Fellow  of  Laud's  own  college,  Father 
Parsons  had  been  a  Fellow  of  Balliol.  I  may  observe,  in 
passing,  that  Oxford  has  continued  to  be  a  "  nursery  for 
Jesuits  "  ;  at  the  present  moment,  one  exceedingly  able  Jesuit 
Father  is  a  Fellow  of  Laud's  beloved  St  John's  itself,  and  a 
good  many  others  are,  or  have  been,  Fellows,  or  Masters  or 
Bachelors  of  Arts  at  Oxford.  But  to  proceed.  "  Oxford 
became  a  perpetual  recruiting  ground  from  which  year  after 
year  flights  of  students  passed  over  to  Rheims  or  to  another 
college  which  the  Pope  had  erected  at  Rome."2  Only  three 
years  before  Laud  went  to  St  John's  a  correspondent  of 
Walsingham's  wrote  : — "  Those  who  are  seminary  priests 
learnt  not  their  papistry  abroad,  but  carried  it  with  them 
from  their  colleges  at  Oxford."3  Mr  Froude  says : — "  The 
pupils  whom  Campian  and  his  friends  had  trained  at  Oxford 
had  caught  and  retained  his  spirit.  They  grew  from  boys 
to  men.  They  took  their  degrees  and  became  fellows,  and 
Holt  of  Oriel,  Arden  of  Trinity,  Garnet,  Bryant,  Sherwin, 
Emerson,  and  many  more,  wandered  together  by  Cherweli 
and  Isis,  brooding  over  their  master's  teaching,  and  resolving 
one  by  one  to  break  the  ties  of  home  and  kindred  and  devote 
their  lives  to  the  cause  of  the  Catholic  faith." 

Laud  took  his  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  when  he  was 
twenty-one.  At  twenty-three  he  had  a  serious  illness,  and 
the  next  year  another.  When  he  was  twenty-five  he  took 
his  Master's  degree,  and  in  the  same  year  he  was  appointed 
"  Grammar  Reader,"  shortly  after  which  he  "  fell  into  a  great 
sickness."  Possibly  these  three  successive  illnesses  may 

1  Froude's  "Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  xi.  308,  12.  2  Ib. 

3  Domestic  MSS.,  1585. 


26  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  [S™/.598* 

have  interfered  with  his  theological  studies,  although  the 
preparation  for  Anglican  ordination  was  not  a  very  serious 
matter  in  those  days  ;  or  it  may  be  that  he  was  engaged  for 
some  time  in  educating  others  ;  at  any  rate,  he  was  not  made 
a  deacon  until  he  was  twenty-seven,  nor  a  "  priest "  until  he 
was  twenty- eight. 

In  the  meantime,  when  he  was  twenty-five,  Protestants 
throughout  Europe  were  encouraged  by  the  famous  Edict  of 
Nantes,  by  which  Henry  IV.  of  France  granted  toleration 
to  his  Protestant  subjects.  To  Laud,  this  might  appear  a 
somewhat  qualified  blessing ;  for,  in  France,  Protestantism 
meant  Calvinism,  which  he  hated,  and  an  edict  which  in  that 
country  threw  open  posts  of  trust,  profit,  and  honour  to  Cal- 
vinists  in  France,  might  encourage  men  of  their  way  of  think 
ing  in  England.  The  horrible  and  detestable  "  massacre  of  St 
Bartholomew  "  had  taken  place  in  the  year  preceding  Laud's 
birth,  and  perhaps  he  may  have  reflected  that  French 
guarantees  of  security  and  freedom  to  Protestants  were  not 
always  to  be  trusted,  especially  as  King  Henry,  who  granted 
the  edict,  had  abjured  Protestantism  and  become  a  Catholic 
only  five  years  earlier. 

In  the  same  year  as  that  in  which  the  Edict  of  Nantes  was 
promulgated,  a  young  man  was  elected  to  be  one  of  his 
brother  fellows,  on  whose  career  he  was  to  exercise  con 
siderable  influence.  This  was  Juxon,  who  became  his 
intimate  friend,  and  eventually  succeeded  him  in  the  Pre 
sidency  of  St  John's,  the  Bishopric  of  London,  and  the 
Archbishopric  of  Canterbury.  Like  Andrews,  Juxon  was 
an  Anglican  bishop  who  held  very  high  views  and  had  the 
good  luck  to  suffer  very  little  for  them.  Laud  was  made  the 
scapegoat. 

Laud's  mother  died  the  year  that  he  was  made  deacon,  so 
he  then  became  possessed  of  the  whole  of  his  little  fortune. 

Both  his  deacon's  and  his  priest's  "  orders  "  were  received 
from  the  hands  of  Dr  Young,  the  Bishop  of  Rochester. 
That  ecclesiastic  "  found  his  study  raised  above  the  system 
and  opinions  of  the  age,  upon  the  noble  foundation  of  the 
Fathers,  Councils,  and  the  ecclesiastical  historians,  and 


lr.81.601']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  27 

presaged  that,  if  he  lived,  he  would  be  an  instrument  of 
restoring  the  Church  from  the  narrow  and  private  principles 
of  modern  times."1  That  Laud  had  read  considerably 
among  the  works  of  the  Fathers — in  each  of  whom  he 
appears  to  have  seen  an  Anglican — and  that  he  had  at 
least  dipped  into  the  writings  of  more  modern  Catholics, 
including  those  of  a  living  theologian  who  was  then 
attracting  considerable  attention  —  Bellarmin — is  evident 
from  his  Conferences  with  FisJier. 

The  year  in  which  Laud  received  Anglican  priests'  orders 
the  famous  Earl  of  Essex  was  executed,  and,  in  the  next,  a 
beginning  of  many  changes  important  to  Laud  was  caused 
by  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  But  at  that  time,  what 
ever  his  secret  ambition  or  aspirations  may  have  been,  he 
was  not  a  courtier,  and  the  death  of  a  queen  did  not  much 
affect  his  daily  life.  Far  more  important  events  to  him  must 
have  appeared  his  appointment  to  the  Divinity  Lectureship 
at  St  John's  in  the  year  the  queen  died,  and  to  the  Proctor 
ship  of  the  University  of  Oxford  in  the  following  year,  when 
he  himself  was  thirty.  In  his  divinity  lectures,  he  publicly 
displayed  his  colours.  He  lectured,  says  Heylin,  on  "the 
perpetual  Visibility  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  derived  from 
the  Apostles  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  continued  in  that 
Church  (as  in  others  of  the  east  and  south)  till  the  Reforma 
tion."*  Such  a  doctrine  was  certain  to  rouse  the  ire  of 
Abbott,  the  Vice-Chancellor,  since,  as  the  same  author  tells 
us,  he  traced  his  Church  "  from  the  Berengarians  to  the  Albi- 
genses,  from  the  Albigenses  to  the  Wickliffists,  from  the 
Wickliffists  unto  the  Hussites,  and  from  the  Hussites  unto 
Luther  and  Calvin."  Coming  from  so  prominent  a  member 
of  the  university  as  the  Proctor  of  the  year,  Laud's  lecture 
would  appear  the  more  atrocious  in  Abbott's  eyes,  and  the 
two  principal  officers  of  Oxford  were  thus  placed  in  violent 
opposition  to  each  other.  To  the  enmity  between  Abbott 
and  Laud  I  shall  have  to  refer  presently.  Nor  was  the 
Vice-Chancellor  his  only  opponent.  Scarcely  had  his  term 

1  A  quotation  (authority  not  mentioned)  in  Mozley's  Essay  on  Laud. 
a  "Cyp.  Angl.f"p.  49. 


28  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [St?a3ol6°3> 

of  Proctorship  ended  before  he  was  "  shrewdly  ratled  by  Dr 
Holland," l  for  maintaining,  when  he  "  performed  his  exercise 
for  Bachelor  of  Divinity,"  that  "there  could  be  no  true 
Church  without  Diocesan  Bishops."  Evidently,  Dr  Holland 
thought  that  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  was 
a  very  safe  policy,  and  Laud  found  himself  practising  what 
a  modern  writer  has  called  "the  gentle  art  of  making 
enemies." 

Six  months  after  he  had  been  elected  Proctor,  Laud  was 
appointed  Chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Devonshire, — a  man  of 
quite  a  different  family  from  the  later  Earls  of  Devonshire, 
and  the  present  Duke, — who  had  but  just  received  that 
title  from  King  James  I.,  together  with  the  Garter.  This 
nobleman  had  held  a  command  in  the  fleet  which  opposed 
the  Armada  ;  he  had  also  been  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
and  had  put  down  a  rebellion  at  the  Battle  of  Kinsale. 

To  enter  the  service  of  so  distinguished  a  man,  was  a  step, 
and  indeed  the  first,  for  Laud  in  a  secular  direction.  The 
appointment  to  such  a  post  would  have  an  additional 
attraction  to  him,  because  his  patron,  if  Camden  is  to  be 
trusted,  was  nearly  as  eminent  for  learning  as  for  valour, 
having  in  those  respects,  "  no  superior,  and  but  few  equals," 
and  Moryson,  his  secretary,  describes  him  as  "  beautiful  in 
person,  as  well  as  valiant ;  and  learned,  as  well  as  wise." 
Unfortunately,  his  morals  were  not  so  unimpeachable  as  his 
bravery,  his  learning,  or  his  wisdom.  When  a  young  man, 
he  had  fallen  in  love  with  the  sister  of  no  less  a  person  than 
the  great  Earl  of  Essex,  who  was  beheaded  for  high  treason 
at  the  Tower  three  years  before  Laud  obtained  the  chap 
laincy  ;  he  had  asked  her  to  marry  him,  and  she  had  con 
sented  ;  but  her  friends  had  forced  her  to  marry  Lord  Rich, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Warwick,  as  Lord  Devonshire,  or  Charles 
Blount,  as  he  was  at  that  time,  was  only  a  younger  son  with 
no  great  prospects.  While  his  wife,  she  had  three  sons  and 
four  daughters  ;  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that,  owing  to  her 
guilty  love  for  Blount,  she  was  anything  than  faithful  to  him. 
Relations  between  the  husband  and  wife  became  more  and 

1  "Cyp.  Angl." 


o5.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  29 

more  strained,  and  some  four  or  five  years  after  Lord  Rich 
had  been  present  at  the  sacking  of  Cadiz,  he  divorced 
Penelope — for  that  was  her  name. 

Clergymen,  who  enjoy  the  patronage  of  influential  and 
clever  magnates  with  loosish  morals,  sometimes  find  them 
selves  placed  in  difficult  positions.  To  Laud,  who,  by  the  way, 
had  lately  been  dignified  by  the  title  of  Bachelor  of  Divinity, 
Lord  Devonshire  one  day  presented  himself,  and  asked  him 
to  marry  him  to  Lady  Rich.  This  was  a  couple  of  years 
after  he  had  been  appointed  to  the  chaplaincy.  Many 
clergymen  would  have  winced  at  such  a  request ;  but  to  a 
High-Churchman  it  must  have  been  exceptionally  odious. 
Some  authorities  maintain  that  Laud  was  threatened  ;  that 
he  was  what  Americans  call  "  cornered "  in  some  way,  is 
almost  certain.  At  any  rate,  "  serving  my  ambition  and 
the  sins  of  others,"  as  he  says,  he  gave  way,  and  consented. 
The  thought  that  he  was  doing  exceedingly  wrong  must 
have  sorely  seared  his  conscience ;  but  more  excruciating 
still  must  have  been  the  reflection  that  his  conduct  could 
only  be  justified  on  the  most  extreme  Calvinistic  grounds. 
Would  not  people  say  : — "  Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets  ? " 
Would  not  every  good  Churchman  turn  his  back  upon  him, 
and  would  not  every  Puritan  chuckle  on  hearing  what  he  had 
done  ?  Well  might  he  write  in  his  diary — "  My  cross  about 
the  Earl  of  Devon's  marriage,  Decemb.  26,  1605,  die  Jovis" 
And  at  such  a  holy  season,  too,  to  commit  such  an  act !  one 
can  almost  hear  him  saying  to  himself  in  mournful  tones. 

If  he  sinned,  he  repented  !  A  well-known  Jesuit  author 
writes  to  me  : — "  In  the  first  editions  of  my  *  *  *  *  I  had 
a  note  reflecting  strongly  on  Laud  for  having  married  Lord 
Devonshire  to  Lady  Rich  in  the  lifetime  of  her  husband. 
But  when  I  found  that  he  so  regretted  it  in  his  after  life, 
and  kept  its  anniversary  as  a  fast  day,  I  struck  his  name 
out  of  the  note  on  p.  101  of  my  third  edition."  It  was 
doubtless  of  this  false  step  that  Laud  wrote : — "  Lapidatus 
non  pro  sed  a  peccato  " — "  Stoned  not  on  account  of  a  sin, 
but  by  a  sin " ;  for  it  was  on  St  Stephen's  day  that  this 
particular  sin  was  committed. 


30  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laiid. 

Nor  was  the  offence  without  its  temporal  punishment. 
King  James,  the  theologian,  ecclesiastical  lawyer,  and  pedant, 
was  furious.  The  unfortunate  earl  wrote  him  an  apology ; 
but  His  Majesty's  ire  was  so  implacable  as  to  cause  the  de 
linquent  to  die  of  "  the  spleen  "  within  a  year.  As  to  Laud, 
it  is  probable  that  to  this  event  must  be  attributed  the 
slowness  of  his  advancement  during  the  next  few  years,  so  far 
as  regal  favour  was  concerned.  Mr  Benson  in  his  brilliant 
"  Study  "  of  Laud,  says  : — "  I  came,  the  other  day,  upon  the 
actual  petition  of  Lord  Rich  for  divorce,  filed  among  the 
Lambeth  papers."  (The  very  mention  of  the  Lambeth  papers 
makes  a  biographer  of  Laud  almost  wish  that,  like  Mr 
Benson,  he  were  the  son  of  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury!) 
'  And  there  is  also  a  curious  relic,  attributed  by  tradition  to 
the  time  of  Laud,  which  has  undoubtedly  reference  to  the 
same  event.  This  is  a  portrait,  rather  stiff  and  Flemish  in 
style,  which  hangs  in  the  great  corridor  of  the  palace,  of  a 
sweet-faced,  gentle  lady,  her  bunches  of  auburn  hair  standing 
out  very  strongly  against  a  pale-green  background.  On  the 
back,  in  large  old  letters,  are  traced  the  words,  '  A  Countess 
of  Devonshire.'  It  cannot  be  doubted  which."1  If  this 
portrait  was  brought  to  Lambeth  by  Laud,  one  would 
have  thought  that  he  might  have  hung  many  a  pleasanter 
memento  upon  his  walls. 

Sixteen  years  after  he  had  committed  his  fault,  he  per 
formed  a  curious  penance  for  it.  It  so  happened  that  he 
had  to  preach  before  the  court,  in  the  very  chapel  in  which 
the  so-called  marriage  had  been  performed.  The  subject  he 
chose  for  his  sermon  was  the  peace  of  the  Church,  and  in 
the  course  of  it  he  said  : — "  Yet  will  I  do  the  people  right ; 
for  though  many  of  them  are  guilty  of  inexcusable  sin,  as 
sacrilege,  so  too  many  of  us  priests  are  guilty  of  other  as 
great  sins  as  sacrilege." 2  Perhaps  he  thought  that  his  con 
gregation  would  expect  him  to  make  what  is  called  "  some 
allusion  in  his  sermon  "  to  the  incident  which  would  naturally 
be  in  the  minds  of  all  his  hearers,  and  he  may  have  said  this 
to  satisfy  them. 

1  Benson,  p.  35.  2  Ib.,  p.  35,  note. 


Of  Archbishop  Laud.  3 1 

It  would  seem  that  the  Earl  of  Devonshire  had  printed  a 
defence  of  his  conduct,  and  at  the  same  time  aired  his 
heterodox  views  upon  the  subject  of  divorce  ;  for  there  is  an 
entry  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers  :  —  "  Censures  on  the 
Earl  of  Devonshire's  Tract  touching  Marriage  and  Divorce, 
by  Wm.  Laud." l  And  the  very  next  entry  runs : — 
"Dissertation  on  Matrimony,  Divorce,  &c.,  from  Matt.  19, 
v.  6  ;  probably  connected  with  the  above."  If  the  dates  are 
correct,  Laud's  censure  of  his  patron's  tract  must  have  been 
written  only  four  months  after  the  unlucky  marriage 
ceremony. 

He  wrote  a  very  good  private  prayer  of  contrition  for  the 
part  he  had  taken  in  the  unhappy  business,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  he  was  heartily  ashamed  of  it,  and  heartily 
sorry  for  it. 

Less  than  two  months  before  Lord  Devonshire's  marriage, 
the  whole  of  England  had  been  excited  by  the  discovery 
of  the  horrible  gunpowder  plot.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
exaggerate  the  effect  that  is  likely  to  have  been  produced 
upon  Laud  by  such  an  incident  at  such  a  time.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  he  had  only  been  four  years  in  priest's 
"orders,"  that,  at  thirty-three,  he  was  beginning  to  attain 
some  celebrity,  as  one  of  the  leading  young  clergymen  of 
the  High-Church  School  at  Oxford  ;  and  that  he  had 
just  been  Proctor,  and  had  had  the  courage  to  brave  the 
displeasure  of  the  Vice-Chancellor  himself  for  the  sake  of 
his  advanced  views.  Placed  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle 
against  Puritanism  and  Calvinism,  he  could  scarcely  help 
reflecting  upon  the  source  from  which  he  had  derived,  if 
not  stolen,  his  weapons :  indeed,  he  boldly  asserted  that 
the  Anglican  Church  had  obtained  her  orders  through  Rome  ; 
what  would  be  more  natural,  therefore,  than  that  he  should 
be  inclined  to  consider  the  claims  of  the  Catholic  Church  ? 
Let  us  assume  this  to  have  been  the  case  ;  I  make  the 
assumption  in  no  unfriendly  spirit  towards  his  memory ; 
let  us  suppose  that  he  was  beginning  to  think  that,  after 
all,  Rome  might  not  be  quite  so  black  as  she  was  painted. 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1603-10,  1606,  April?  Nos.  53  and  54. 


32  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

And  then,  what  happened  ?  News  came  to  him  that  a  most 
diabolical  conspiracy  to  destroy  the  whole  Parliament  by 
means  of  the  cowardly  and  dastardly  medium  of  an 
explosion  of  gunpowder  had  just  been  discovered ;  that 
the  object  was  the  overthrow  of  the  prevailing  Protestant 
powers  and  the  introduction  of  Catholic  powers  ;  that  the 
conspirators  were  all  what  are  termed  "  good  Catholics ; " 
that  one  of  them  was  the  owner  of  large  properties  in  three 
of  the  midland  counties  ;  that  another  was  not  only  a 
knight  of  high  character  and  great  estates,  but  very  highly 
connected,  and,  worst  of  all,  that  two  Jesuit  priests  had  been 
privy,  and  even  consenting,  to  the  plot.  Here  would  be 
a  nice  story  for  a  man  considering  the  attractions  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

We,  of  course,  know  that  the  gunpowder  plot,  although 
undertaken  by  Catholics,  was  a  freak  as  mad  and  as  un 
authorised  as  it  was  wicked  ;  that  about  four  months  before 
its  discovery,  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  himself,  Father 
Aquaviva,  had  written  "  very  earnest  letters  "  to  the  Jesuit 
afterwards  accused,  Father  Garnet,  "  wherein  he  saith  that 
he  writeth  in  mandate  Papce,  that  we  were  expressly  com 
manded  by  His  Holiness  to  hinder  by  all  possible  means  all 
conspiracies  of  Catholics  "  ; l  and  that  both  this  same  Father 
Garnet  and  Father  Blackwell,  the  archpriest  of  England, 
did  all  they  could  to  make  these  wishes  of  the  Pope's  gener 
ally  known  among  English  Catholics.  We  also  know  that 
Catesby  had  twisted  the  Pope's  exhortation,  of  some  five  or 
six  years  earlier,  when  the  succession  to  the  English  Crown 
was  in  dispute,  to  support  the  Catholic  claimant,  into  a  very 
different  thing,  namely  an  exhortation  to  depose  the  Protest 
ant  monarch,  when  he  was  no  longer  a  claimant  but  a  king  ; 
that  he  had  asked  Father  Garnet  "  whether,  in  case  it  were 
lawful  to  kill  a  person  or  persons,  it  were  necessary  to  regard 
the  innocents  which  were  present,  lest  they  also  should 
perish  withal,"  to  which  Father  Garnet  had  replied  that  "  in 
all  just  wars  it  is  practised  and  held  lawful  to  beat  down 
houses  and  walls  and  castles,  notwithstanding  innocents  were 

1  Hatfield  MS. 


05-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  33 

in  danger,  so  that  such  battering  were  necessary  for  the 
obtaining  of  victory," l  and  that,  in  conversation  with  his 
accomplices,  he  had  exaggerated  this  reply  into  the  consent 
of  a  Jesuit  to  the  gunpowder  plot.  We  know  that,  a  little 
later,  he  had  revealed  the  plot  to  Father  Greenway  under  seal 
of  confession,  giving  him  permission  to  inform  Father  Garnet 
also  under  seal  of  confession;2  and  that  both  these  fathers 
had  done  all  they  could  to  dissuade  him  from  his  purpose 
without  avail,  and  had  suffered  intense  misery  of  mind  in 
consequence,  but  had  considered  themselves  bound  by  the 
inviolable  seal  of  the  confessional  not  to  reveal  the  matter  to 
others.  We  also  know  that  while  Father  Greenway  was 
undoubtedly  bound  by  that  seal,  Father  Garnet,  after  his 
arrest,  wrote  to  the  latter : — "  To  testify  that  I  do  and 
always  did  condemn  the  intention,  and  that  indeed  I  might 
have  revealed  a  general  knowledge  had  of  Mr  Catesby 
out  of  confession,  but  hoping  of  the  Pope's  prevention, 
and  being  loth  to  hurt  my  friend,  I  acknowledge  to 
have  so  far  forth  offended  God  and  the  King,  and  so  ask 
forgiveness  "  ;  3  the  "  Pop.e's  prevention  "  referring  to  a  letter 
he  himself  had  written  to  the  General,  requesting  him  to  beg 
the  Pope  to  forbid  all  Catholics  in  England  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  Government,  on  pain  of  excommunication.4  We 
know,  too,  that,  instead  of  having  confessed  himself  guilty, 
without  reserve,  as  was  given  out,  what  Father  Garnet  really 
wrote  was : — "  I,  Henry  Garnet,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
priest,  do  here  freely  protest  before  God,  that  I  hold  the  late 
intention  of  the  powder  action  to  have  been  altogether  un 
lawful  and  most  horrible,  &c.  &c.  I  also  protest  that  I  was 
ever  of  opinion,  that  it  was  unlawful  to  attempt  any  violence 
against  the  King's  Majesty  and  Estates  after  he  was  once 
received  by  the  realm.  And  I  acknowledge  that  I  was 
bound  to  reveal  all  knowledge  that  I  had  of  this  or  any 
other  treason  out  of  the  sacrament  of  confession.  And 

1  Hatfield  MS. 

-  Greenway's  Relation,  Stonyhurst  MS.,  p.  109.     I  quote  from  "  Father  Henry 
Garnet  and  The  Gunpowder  Plot,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Pollen,  S.J. 

3  Hatfield  MS.,  115,  fol.  154. 

4  Father  Pollen's  "  Father  Garnet  and  the  Gunpowder  Plot,"  p.  13. 

C 


34  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

whereas  partly  upon  hope  of  prevention,  partly  for  that  I 
would  not  betray  my  friend,  I  did  not  reveal  the  general 
knowledge  of  Mr  Catesby's  intention,  which  I  had  by  him, 
I  do  acknowledge  myself  highly  guilty,  to  have  offended 
God,  the  King's  Majesty,  and  estate,  and  humbly  ask  of  all 
forgiveness,  exhorting  all  Catholics  that  they  no  way  build 
upon  my  example."1  We  also  know,  as,  for  that  matter, 
every  Catholic  knew  then,  that  to  profane  the  sacrament  by 
receiving  Holy  Communion,  with  the  intention  of  perpetrat 
ing  an  atrocious  crime,  would  be  a  fearful  sacrilege  and  to 
eat  and  drink  damnation. 

The  opinion  of  the  arch  priest  (the  chief  ecclesiastic  of 
the  Catholic  Church  at  that  time  in  England),  on  the  gun 
powder  plot  may  be  worth  quoting.  Dr  Hook  writes  2  that, 
on  Nov.  28,  he  "published  a  letter  to  the  English  Papists,  in 
which  he  condemned  the  late  plot  as  'a  detestable  and 
damnable  practice,  odious  in  the  sight  of  God,  horrible  to 
the  understanding  of  men.'  He  exhorted  them  '  not  to 
attempt  any  practice  or  action,  tending,  in  any  degree,  to  the 
hurt  or  prejudice  of  the  person  of  our  sovereign  lord  the  king, 
the  prince,  nobility,  counsellors,  and  officers  of  state,  but 
towards  them,  in  their  several  places  and  degrees,  to  behave 
as  becomes  dutiful  subjects  and  religious  Catholics.'"3 

But  all  that  I  have  to  do  with  this  matter,  on  the  present 
occasion,  is  to  consider  what  the  effect  of  the  news  of  the 
horrible  affair  would  be,  or  be  likely  to  be,  at  the  time,  upon 
a  man  with  some  inclinations  towards  the  Catholic  Church, 
as  I  am  assuming  may  have  been  the  case  with  Laud.  Let 
us  endeavour  to  imagine  the  feelings  with  which  high 
Anglicans  would  receive  the  news  that  a  band  of  Catholics, 
containing  some  desperadoes,  but  also  comprising  two  or 
three  well-known  country  gentlemen,  if  not  a  peer  or  so, 
and  a  couple  of  the  Jesuit  fathers  at  Farm  Street,  had  almost 
succeeded  in  blowing  up  with  dynamite  the  principal 
Government  buildings  in  London,  with  the  intention  of 

1  P.  R.  O.  Dom.  James  I.,  xx.  12. 

2  "  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,"  vol.  v.  p.  226. 

3  Collier,  vii.  320. 


s.  ]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  35 

placing  England  under  Irish  rule.  Would  such  news  be 
conducive  to  conversions  to  the  Catholic  Church  among 
respectable  High-Church  Anglicans  ?  I  ask  the  question  in 
order  to  do  justice  to  the  subject  of  my  biography  ;  and  it  is 
only  on  his  account,  and  with  a  view  to  a  right  understand 
ing  of  his  conduct,  that  I  introduce  the  subject  of  the 
execrable  gunpowder  plot  into  my  pages. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LAUD'S  life  was  destined  to  be  a  stormy  one.  The  tempest 
about  the  part  he  had  taken  in  Lord  Devonshire's  marriage 
was  still  raging,  when  another  burst  forth  about  a  different 
subject.  This  was  a  sermon.  The  notice  of  it  in  the  Diary 
is  as  follows: — "Anno  1606.  The  Quarrel  Dr  Ayry  picked 
with  me  about  my  Sermon  at  St  Mary's,  Oct.  21,  1606." 
He  was  now  in  hot  water  once  more  with  a  Vice-Chancellor, 
for  Airy  had  succeeded  Abbott.  Heylin  says  that  Dr  Airy 
stigmatised  the  sermon  for  '"containing  in  it  sundry 
scandalous  and  Popish  passages ' ;  the  good  man  making 
all  things  to  be  matter  of  Popery,  which  were  not  held  forth 
unto  him  in  Calvin's  Institutes"^-  As  Mr  Gardiner  says, 
Laud  "  escaped  a  public  recantation  ;  but  became  a  marked 
man,  as  Popishly  inclined." 2 

Not  only  was  Laud  attacked  for  sermons :  he  was  also 
attacked  in  sermons.  I  may  allude  here,  although  chrono 
logically  it  should  be  noticed  rather  later,  to  a  virulent 
onslaught  made  upon  him  by  Abbott's  brother,  in  a  sermon 
from  the  university  pulpit.  Having  described  Laud's  teach 
ing,  he  apostrophised  the  teacher  of  it,  and  staring  straight 
at  the  place  where  Laud  was  sitting,  he  exclaimed  :— 
"What  art  thou,  ROMISH  or  ENGLISH?  PAPIST  or 
PROTESTANT?  Or  what  art  thou?  A  mungrel,  or 
compound  of  both  ? " 3  And  then  he  went  on  to  call  him 
"  a  Protestant  by  ordination ;  a  Papist  in  point  of  free  will 
and  the  like ! "  "A  Protestant  in  receiving  the  sacrament ; 
a  Papist  in  the  doctrine  of  the  sacrament !  "  "  What !  "  cried 
he,  with  passionate  vehemence.  "Do  you  think  there  are 
two  heavens  ? "  He  was  now  pretending  that  our  Lord  was 

1  "  Cyp.  Angl."  2  "  Diction,  of  Nat.  Bio.,"  Laud. 

3  "  Cyp.  Angl."  pp.  57,  58. 
36 


Iviith  cent.  ]          L ife  of  A  rchbishop  L and.  3 7 

speaking.  "  If  there  be,  get  you  to  the  other,  and  place 
yourself  there  ;  for  into  this,  where  I  am,  you  shall  never 
come ! " 

So  strong  was  the  feeling  against  him,  that  "  it  was  a 
heresy,"  he  wrote,  "  to  be  seen  in  my  company,  to  salute  me 
in  the  street." 

It  may  be  well,  at  this  stage,  to  consider  how  far  Laud 
merited  the  accusation  of  "  Popish  inclinations."  As  I  have 
already  said,  he  did  not  "go  further,"  to  use  a  modern  term, 
in  his  High-Churchism  than  Andrews,  or  several  others  of  his 
contemporaries.  Indeed,  some  of  his  pronouncements  would 
be  considered  very  moderate  indeed  by  high  Anglicans  of 
our  own  days.  "  All  sides  agree,"  he  says,  in  his  Conference 
with  Fisher,  "  in  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  England,  that  in 
the  most  blessed  sacrament  the  worthy  receiver  is  by  his 
faith  made  spiritually  partaker  of  the  true  and  real  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  truly,  and  really,  and  of  all  the  benefits  of 
his  passion.  Your  Roman  Catholics  add  a  manner  of  this 
his  presence,  transubstantiation,  which  many  deny,  and 
the  Lutherans  a  manner  of  this  presence,  consubstantiation, 
which  more  deny."  "  It  is  safer  communicating  with  the 
Church  of  England  than  with  the  Roman  or  Lutheran, 
because  all  agree  in  this  truth,  not  in  any  other  opinion."  l 
Here  he  appears  to  claim  a  lower  view,  as  to  the  real 
presence,  for  the  Anglicans  than  for  the  Lutherans.  Again 
he  says  : — "  Protestants  of  all  sorts  maintain  a  true  and  real 
presence  of  Christ  in  the  eucharist ;  and  then,  where  is  any 
known  or  damnable  heresy  here  ? 2  Surely  this  was  making 
no  high  claim — to  put  his  Church  on  the  same  footing  with 
other  Protestant  Churches  as  to  the  eucharist !  In  a  note  on 
the  same  page,  he  quotes  the  article  xxviii. : — "  The  body  of 
Christ  is  given,  taken,  and  eaten  in  the  supper  (of  the  Lord) 
only  after  an  heavenly  and  spiritual  manner."  On  the  fol 
lowing  page  he  quotes  Cranmer : — "If  by  this  word  really 
you  understand  corporaliter,  corporally  in  his  natural  and 
organical  body,  under  the  forms  of  bread  and  wine,  it  is 
contrary  to  the  holy  word  of  God."  Then  he  quotes  Ridley, 

1  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  1839,  p.  241.  -  /£.,  p.  247. 


38  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

and  says: — "And  for  Calvin,  he  comes  no  whit  short  of 
these."1  He  keeps  harping  on  the  point  that  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists  and  Anglicans  all  hold  variations  of  the  same 
doctrine  on  the  real  presence,  all  of  them  being  diametri 
cally  opposed  to  that  of  the  Catholics.  "  As  for  the 
Lutherans,  they  neither  deny  nor  doubt  of  his  true  and  real 
presence  there  ;  and  they  are  Protestants.  And  as  for  the 
Calvinists,  if  they  might  be  rightly  understood,  they  also 
maintain  a  most  true  and  real  presence,  though  they  cannot 
permit  their  judgment  to  be  transubstantiated  ;  and  they  are 
Protestants  too."2  We  are  all  Protestants,  and  our  differ 
ences  of  opinion  as  to  the  real  presence,  are  much  the  same 
as  those  'twixt  tweedledum  and  tweedledee !  he  seems  to 
say. 

On  the  subject  of  purgatory,  again,  he  is  what  the 
majority  of  my  fellow-countrymen  would  call  "  very  sound." 
The  Primitive  Church,  says  he,  never  did  "  acknowledge  a 
purgatory  in  a  side-part  of  hell."  3  He  is  equally  "  sound  " 
on  baptism  ;  for  he  continues,  in  the  same  sentence  : — "  nor 
make  the  intention  of  the  priest  of  the  essence  of  baptism." 
And,  for  all  his  talk  about  getting  orders  through  the 
Church  of  Rome,  he  was  at  heart  "  sound  "  on  the  question 
of  Apostolical  succession.  "Most  evident  it  is,"  says  he, 
"that  the  succession  which  the  Fathers  meant  is  not  tied 
to  place  or  person,  but  it  is  tied  to  the  verity  of  doctrine."  4 
And,  again  : — "  For  succession  in  the  general  I  shall  say  this  ; 
it  is  a  great  happiness  where  it  may  be  had  visible  and 
continued,  and  a  great  conquest  over  the  mutability  of  this 
present  world.  But  I  do  not  find  any  one  of  the  ancient 
Fathers  that  makes  local,  personal,  visible,  and  continued 
succession,  a  necessary  sign  or  mark  of  the  true  Church  in 
any  one  place."  5  It  is  quite  clear,  therefore,  that  Laud,  who 
was  naturally  fond  of  ceremonial,  decency,  and  order,  and 
such  like  things,  was  of  Cranmer's  opinion,  already  quoted, 
that  "  In  the  admission  of  many  of  these  offices  be  divers 
comely  ceremonies  and  solemnities,  and  which  be  not  of 

1  "Conference  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  1839,  p.  249.  2   //>.,  p.  246. 

3  Ib.,  p.  275.  4  /£.,  p.  323.  5  Id.,  p.  322. 


Iviyith  cent.]          Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  39 

necessity,  but  only  for  a  good  order  and  seemly  fashion  ;  for 
if  such  offices  and  ministrations  were  committed  without 
such  solemnity,  they  were  nevertheless  duly  committed." 
And  that  "  appoyntement  whiche  the  Appostels  by  necessyte 
made  by  common  election  and  sometyme  by  their  owne 
several  assignment,  could  not  then  be  doon  by  Christen 
princes,  bicause  at  that  tyme  they  were  not ;  and  nowe  at 
these  dayes  appertayneth  to  Christian  princes  and  rulers."  l 

Very  strong  evidence  of  his  opinion  on  the  question  of 
the  necessity  of  consecration  and  Apostolical  succession  in 
bishops  is  given  on  page  141  of  his  own  History.  He 
writes  : — "  Neither  is  Episcopacy  in  all  the  Parts  and  Powers 
of  it,  that  which  it  was  in  time  of  Popery,  and  still  is  in  the 
Roman  Church."  (The  italics  are  his  own.)  "  Nor  is  tJie 
otJier  Form  of  Government"  (i.e.,  Presbytery)  "received,  main 
tained,  and  Practised  in  all  other  Reformed  Churches  ;  unless 
these  men  be  so  straightlaced,  as  not  to  admit  the  Churches 
of  Sweden,  and  Denmark,  and  indeed,  all,  or  most  of  the 
Lutherans,  to  be  Reformed  Churches.  For  in  Sweden  they 
retain  both  the  Thing  and  the  Name;  and  the  Governours 
of  their  Churches  are,  and  are  called  Bishops.  And  among 
the  other  Lutherans  the  Thing  is  retained,  though  not  the 
Name.  For  instead  of  Bishops,  they  are  called  Superin 
tendents.  And  yet  even  here  too,  these  Names  differ  more 
in  sound  than  in  sense.  For  Bishop  is  the  same  in  Greek, 
that  Superintendent  is  in  Latin.  Nor  is  this  change  very 
well  liked  by  the  Learned.  Howsoever,  Luther,  since  he 
would  change  the  Name,  did  yet  very  wisely,  that  he  would 
leave  the  Thing,  and  make  choice  of  such  a  name  as  was  not 
altogether  unknown  to  the  Ancient  Church."  2 

Here,  therefore,  we  have  it  in  black  and  white,  in  Laud's 
own  writing,  that  in  their  Superintendents,  the  Lutherans  had 
the  Thing,  Bishop.  That  the  Thing  had  not  been  honoured 
with  the  "  divers  comely  ceremonies,"  commonly  called  con 
secration,  that  the  Thing  had  no  pretension  to  orders,  made 
no  difference  :  it  was  Bishop,  quite  as  much  as  the  Anglican 

1  I  quote  from  Estcourt's  "Question  of  Anglican  Ordination,"  pp.  70,  71. 
3  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  Will.  Laud,"  p.  141.1 


4O  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  Bishop.  If  words  mean  any 
thing,  Laud's  words  mean  this,  and  they  show  how  far  he 
believed  in  Apostolical  succession,  and  in  any  orders,  for 
that  matter.  When  we  add  to  this  that  he  distinctly  denied 
the  necessity  of  intention  for  the  validity  of  a  sacrament ; 
that  he  even  denied  the  necessity  of  a  "  purpose  to  do  therein 
as  the  Church  doth,"  l  adding,  "  nor  is  the  intention  of  either 
bishop  or  priest  of  absolute  necessity  to  the  essence  of  a 
sacrament,"  we  begin  to  realise  how  far  Laud  was  doctrinally 
a  High-Churchman. 

The  Anglican  position  in  his  days  is  thus  described  by  one 
of  Laud's  modern  Anglican  biographers  : — "  There  is  more  in 
Episcopacy  than  a  form  of  government.  But  this  was  not 
seen  at  first ;  the  primary  impression  of  many  of  the  Refor 
mers  being  that  they  were  all,  episcopal  or  otherwise,  on  an 
equal  footing.  This  will  account  for  the  evident  unwilling 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  rulers  of  the  English  Church  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation  to  commit  themselves  to  any  state 
ment  on  the  subject  of  orders,  which  might  have  the  effect  of 
cutting  off  the  foreigners  from  communion.  This  was  only 
natural,  for  foreigners  were  invited  and  encouraged  to  come  ; 
it  would  have  therefore  been  most  unmannerly  to  have 
passed  any  enactment  against  them.  The  validity  of  orders 
conferred  by  the  foreign  consistories  was  therefore  looked 
upon  as  an  open  question.  Many  who  had  received  no  other 
ordination  were  admitted  to  livings,  and  divines,  sound  in 
the  main,  were  unwilling  to  pass  any  decided  opinion.  Even 
Hooker  takes  no  higher  ground  than  the  lawfulness  of 
episcopacy,  and  allows  necessity  as  justification  of  ordination 
by  Presbyters  ;  while  the  more  advanced  in  the  new  doctrine 
thought  this  an  unnecessary  limitation,  and  that  under  all 
circumstances  Presbyters  were  equal  to  Bishops.  Hence  the 
uncertainty  in  which  the  question  was  enveloped  in  Queen 
Elizabeth's  reign." 2  A  few  lines  further  on,  he  says  that 
Cosin  wrote : — "  If  a  Minister  so  ordained  in  these  French 
Churches  came  to  incorporate  himself  with  ours,  and  to 

1  "Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  1839,  p.  229. 

2  "  Life  of  Laud  "  by  the  Rev.  John  Baines,  p.  125. 


Earl 


xvmh  cent.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  41 

receive  a  public  charge  or  cure  of  souls  among  us  in  the 
Church  of  England  (as  I  have  known  some  of  them  to  have 
done  of  late,  and  can  instance  many  others  before  my  time), 
&c.,"  "nor  did  our  laws  require  more  of "  them  "than  to 
declare  "  their  "  consent  to  the  religion  received  among  us, 
and  to  subscribe  the  Articles  established."  Bishop  Cosin 
was  more  than  twenty  years  younger  than  Laud,  and  a 
High-Churchman,  who  got  into  trouble  for  his  extreme  views. 

Obviously,  in  the  opinion  of  the  most  orthodox  Anglican 
divines  of  the  time,  it  was  the  same  in  the  case  of  the  clergy 
as  in  that  of  the  bishops.  If  the  foreign  ministers  had  not 
got  the  Name  of  priests,  they  had  the  Thing,  and  as  to  priest, 
presbyter,  and  minister,  "  these  names "  differed  "  more  in 
sound  than  in  sense." 

When  one  asks  oneself  why  Laud  should  have  been 
selected  as  the  object  of  attack  by  the  Puritanical  party,  one 
can  only  reply  that  it  was  probably  for  the  same  reason  that 
one  ritualist  clergyman  is  chosen  for  prosecution  by  the 
Church  Association  instead  of  another,  in  these  days. 
Chance,  no  doubt,  has  much  to  do  with  it ;  aggressiveness, 
or  at  least  self-assertion,  may  have  more;  personal  distinc 
tion,  in  some  cases,  perhaps,  most  of  all,  while  personal 
charms  may  save  many.  The  late  Mr  Machonochie  was  not 
so  "  high  "  as  certain  of  his  unprosecuted  fellow-clergy,  and 
Bishop  Andrews,  who  used  wafer-bread  for  communion,  was 
left  in  peace,  while  poor  Archbishop  Laud  pleaded,  without 
avail,  as  he  stood,  a  prisoner,  at  his  trial — "  For  Wafers,  I 
neither  gave,  or  received  the  Communion  but  in  Ordinary 
Bread."  l 

Much  was  made  by  Laud's  enemies  of  his  prayers  for  the 
canonical  hours  ;  but  these,  which  are  given  in  his  Devotions, 
have  practically  nothing  in  common  with  the  Divine  Office 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Nor  were  any  of  his  prayers  of 
a  particularly  Catholic  tone,  and  it  is  a  matter  for  surprise 
that  one  who  had  such  an  inclination  towards  the  Church's 
ceremonies  did  not  avail  himself  to  a  greater  extent  of  her 
devotions. 

1   "  Hist,  of  the  Trial  and  Troub.  of  Will.  Laud,"  p.  342. 


42  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Perhaps  Laud  reached  his  "highest"  point  when  he 
"  approved  Auricular  Confession,"  as  Heylin  tells  us.1  In 
the  nineteenth  century,  it  strikes  one  as  curious  that  his 
enemies  dwelt  less  on  this  point,  when  accusing  him  of  what 
are  now  termed  "popish  leanings,"  than  on  little  ceremonies 
and  ritual  observances  which  are  now  practised  in  the  most 
evangelical  of  churches. 

The  question  of  his  attitude  towards  the  Catholic  Church 
itself  will  necessarily  present  itself  from  time  to  time,  as  we 
proceed  ;  and  we  shall  find  that  it  varied  considerably  at 
different  periods  of  his  life,  more,  perhaps,  on  account  of 
political  than  religious  causes  ;  therefore,  in  dealing  with  it 
in  the  present  chapter,  I  will  be  somewhat  brief. 

First  let  his  own  Boswell  speak  for  him.  Having  alluded 
to  the  question  of  a  reconciliation  of  the  Anglicans  with 
Rome,  he  proceeds  2 : — "  Admitting,  as  we  may  say,  that 
no  such  Reconciliation  was  upon  the  Anvil,"  he  "had  some 
thoughts  (and  I  have  reason  to  believe  it)  by  Conferences 
first,  and  if  that  failed,  by  the  ordinary  course  of  Ecclesiasti 
cal  censures,  of  gaining  Papists  to  the  Church  ;  and  therefore 
it  concerned  him  in  part  of  Prudence,  to  smooth  the  way,  by 
removing  all  such  Blocks  and  Obstacles  which  had  been  laid 
before  them  by  the  Puritan  Faction."  In  another  place  he 
says3 : — "  Seeing  the  Puritans  grown  so  strong  even  to 
endangering  of  our  Peace  both  in  Church  and  State,  by 
the  negligence  and  remissness  of  the  former  Government, 
he  thought  it  necessary  to  show  some  countenance  to  the 
Papists ;  that  the  ballance  being  kept  even  between  the 
parties,  the  Church  and  State  might  be  preserved  (as  indeed 
they  were)  in  the  greater  safety."  And  again  4  : — "  It  was  the 
Petulancy  of  the  Puritans  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Pragma- 
ticalness  of  the  Jesuites  on  the  other,  which  made  the  breach 
wider  than  at  first ;  and  had  those  hot  spirits  on  both  sides 
been  calmed  a  while,  moderate  men  might  possibly  have 
agreed  upon  such  equal  terms,  as  would  have  laid  a  sure 
foundation  for  the  peace  of  Christendom." 

An  important  witness   to  the  staunchness  of  his   Protes- 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  390.         2  /£.,  p.  391.         »  75.,  p.  386.         4  //;.,  p.  388. 


.]          Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  43 

tantism  is  his  friend,  Lord  Clarendon,  who  declares  that  "  no 
man  was  a  greater  or  abler  enemy  to  Popery."1  Again,  he 
speaks  of  "  the  Protestant  Religion  "  being  "  more  advanced 
against  the  Church  of  Rome  (without  prejudice  to  other  useful 
or  godly  labours)  especially  by  those  two  Books  of  the  late 
Lord  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterbury  his  Grace,"  i.e.,  Laud,  "  and 
of  Mr  Chillingworth,  than  it  had  been  from  the  Reformation." 
Yet  he  admits  that  Laud  "  was  always  maligned,  and 
persecuted  by  those  who  were  of  the  Calvinian  Faction, 
which  was  then  very  powerful,  and  who,  according  to  their 
usual  maxim,  and  practice,  call  every  man  they  do  not 
love,  Papist." 2 

Laud's  great  enemy,  Prynne,  is  scarcely  fair  or  accurate  in 
making  out  that  he  invariably  tolerated  priests  and  Jesuits, 
although  "he  hath  bin  so  carefull  that  a  poore  man  could 
not  goe  to  a  neighbour  Parish  to  heare  a  Sermon,  when  he 
had  none  at  home,  could  not  have  a  Sermon  repeated,  nor 
prayer  used  in  his  own  Family,  but  he  was  a  fit  subject  for 
the  High  Commission  Court ;  yet  the  other,"  that  is  to  say 
the  toleration  and  encouragement  of  Catholics,  "hath  beene 
done  in  all  parts  of  the  Realme,  and  no  notice  of  it  by  any 
Ecclesiasticall  Judges  or  Courts."3 

There  is  plenty  of  evidence  on  the  other  side.  In  the 
Whiteway  Diary,  in  the  British  Museum,  there  is  an  entry, 
"22  Oct.  1634.  I  heard  Allison,  a  Coachman,  and  Robins, 
an  alderman  of  Yarmouth,  censured  in  the  Star  Chamber  for 
slandering  the  present  Archbishop  of  York,  Dr  Neile,  as  if 
in  the  king's  return  from  Scotland  last  year  he  should  have 
petitioned  him  for  a  toleration  of  Popery."  Allison  was 
sentenced  to  be  fined  £1000  to  the  king,  and  £500  to  the 
archbishop,  and  to  be  whipped  in  the  pillory  at  York, 
Yarmouth,  and  Ipswich.  In  passing  sentence,  "  Dr  Lawde, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  spoke  wittily  and  bitterly." 
We  read  in  the  same  diary,  on  "4  Dec.  1623.  At  this 
time  a  Popish  lawyer  about  London  was  censured  at  the 
Star  Chamber,  for  saying  that  King  Henry  VIII.  did  .  .  . 

1  Clarendon's  "  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,"  book  iv.  p.  572. 
2  Ib.   book  i.  p.  90.  3  "Canterburies  Doome,"  p.  30. 


44  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid. 

the  Protestant  religion  [an  indelicate  expression]  to  have  his 
ears  cut  off,  his  nose  split,  his  forehead  marked  with  B  for 
blasphemy,  whipped  about  London,  and  fined  ;£  10,000  to  the 
king."  And  again,  "  25  Feby.  163!.  The  City  of  London 
was  fined  in  the  Star  Chamber  at  .£70,000,  for  suffering  of 
Papists  to  plant  in  their  plantation  of  Londonderry  in 
Ireland,"  &C.1 

I  merely  make  these  quotations  in  order  to  show  that, 
in  the  Star  Chamber,  Catholics  were  not  unduly  favoured 
iri  Laud's  time,  and  I  may,  for  the  same  purpose,  quote 
Lingard,  who  says  that  Laud  published  a  letter,  which  was 
also  signed  by  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  "  directing  that  not 
only  Catholic  priests  and  the  harbourers  of  priests,  but  all 
persons  in  possession  of  papistical  or  heretical  books,  all 
who  had  been,  or  were  suspected  of  having  been,  present 
at  the  celebration  of  mass,  all  whose  children  had  been  bap 
tised  or  were  taught  by  popish  priests,  or  had  been,  or  were 
about  to  be  sent  to  popish  seminaries,  should  be  appre 
hended  and  brought  before  His  Majesty's  commissioners 
for  ecclesiastical  matters."  2 

From  this  it  is  obvious  that  Laud  did  not  hesitate  to 
persecute  the  Catholics  ;  questions  and  instructions  in  his 
visitations,  when  a  bishop,  afford  similar  evidence  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  he  seems  to  have  taken  more  pleasure  in 
persecuting  the  Puritan  and  "the  precise." 

Even  on  the  scaffold,  as  the  writer  of  the  supplement  to 
his  History  says,  "his  great  care  was  to  clear  his  Majesty 
and  the  Church  of  England,  from  any  inclination  to  Popery."  £ 
In  his  speech,  which  had  been  written  beforehand,  the  poor 
old  man  said  : — "  I  have  always  lived  in  the  Protestant 
Religion  established  in  England,  and  in  that  I  come  now 
to  Die."4  Yet  even  then  his  stronger  antipathy  to  the 
Puritans  than  to  the  Catholics  came  out,  when  he  said  : — 


1  I  quote  from  "Records  of  The  English  Province  S.  J.,"  by  Henry  Foley, 
pp.  71,  72. 

'2  Lingard's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  p.  223. 

3  "Hist,  of  the  Troubles  and  Tryal  of  Will.  Laud,"  p.  446. 

4/£.,  p.  450. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  45 

"  The  Pope  never  had  such  an  Harvest  in  England  since  the 
Reformation,  as  he  hath  now  upon  the  Sects  and  Divisions 
that  are  amongst  us." * 

As  I  have  said  before,  it  is  in  his  Conference  witJi  Fisher 
that  we  can  best  judge  of  his  feelings  towards  the  Catholic 
Church.  Here  he  says :  —  "  Rome  and  other  national 
churches  are  in  this  universal  Catholic  house  as  so  many 
daughters."  "  Rome  is  an  elder  sister."  2  "  The  Protestants 
did  not  get  that  name  by  protesting  against  the  Church  of 
Rome,  but  by  protesting  against  her  errors  and  superstitions."3 
And  again,  "  I  heartily  pray  that  he"  (God)  "  will  be  pleased 
to  give  all  of  you  "  (Papists)  "a  light  of  his  truth  and  a  love 
to  it,  that  you  may  no  longer  be  made  instruments  of  the  Pope's 
boundless  ambition,  and  this  most  unchristian  brain-sick 
device,  that  in  all  controversies  of  the  faith  he  is  infallible."  4 

No.  Whatever  he  may  have  been,  William  Laud  was  not 
a  Catholic,  and  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  he  ever  had  much 
inclination  towards  Catholicism.  Protestants,  and  perhaps 
Catholics  also  when  judging  Protestants,  are  apt  to  forget 
that  a  love  of  ceremonial  and  ecclesiastical  pomp  and  power 
do  not  necessarily  betoken  any  leaning  towards  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Many  excellent  Catholics,  nay,  many  great  saints, 
have  had  no  taste  for  music,  architecture,  or  painting,  have 
cared  little  for  ceremonies,  and  have  shunned  all  offers  of 
power  and  place  as  if  they  were  the  plague. 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Troubles  and  Tryal  of  Will.  Laud.,"  p.  443. 

-  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  p.  262.          3  Ib.t  p.  ill.  4  //>.    p.  320. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HAVING  disposed  of  Laud's  quarrel  with  Dr  Airy,  we 
come,  in  the  next  year,  1607,  to  his  presentation  and 
induction  to  his  first  benefice,  "  the  Vicaridge  of  Stanford 
in  Northamptonshire^ 

Five  months  later,  he  writes  : — "  The  Advowson  of  North- 
Kilworth  in  Leicestershire  given  to  me,  April  1608."  He 
now  began  "  to  get  on,"  to  use  a  modern  phrase.  "  I  pro 
ceeded  Doctor  in  Divinity  in  the  Act,  anno  1608."  He  was 
then  thirty-five.  Almost  more  important,  so  far  as  his 
advancement  was  concerned,  was  his  appointment  in  August, 
of  the  same  year,  as  chaplain  to  Dr  Neile,  then  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  a  man  of  tact  and  amiability.  Moreover,  he  had 
some  influence  with  the  king,  and,  by  its  use,  he  was  enabled 
to  direct  the  future  of  Laud  into  a  new  and  most  important 
channel. 

In  the  same  year  was  born  the  greatest  ornament  of  the 
school  of  thought  which  Laud  most  detested.  John  Milton 
was  as  opposite  to  him  in  character  as  in  creed  ;  but,  what 
ever  his  influence  upon  his  time,  he  will  not  figure  much,  if 
at  all,  in  this  biography. 

Within  fourteen  months  of  his  appointment  to  Dr  Neile's 
chaplaincy,  a  great  event  occured  in  the  life  of  Laud — his 
first  sermon  preached  before  the  king.  If  he  had  what  is 
called  "  a  bad  manner,"  he  knew  well  enough  how  to  act  the 
courtier  in  the  pulpit.  In  one  of  his  sermons  before  the 
king,  we  find  this  passage,  which  may  serve  as  a  specimen  of 
many  others  : — "  And,  Sir,  as  you  were  first  up,  and  have 
sounded  an  alarum  in  the  ears  of  your  people ;  not  that  they 
should  '  fast  and  pray,'  and  '  serve  God '  alone,  but  go  with 
you  into  the  house  of  the  Lord  ;  so  go  on  to  serve  your 
Preserver.  Your  merit,  and  the  nobleness  of  your  heart  will 
46 


]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  47 

glue  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  you.  And  your  religious 
care  of  God's  cause  and  service  will  make  Him,  I  doubt  not, 
*  arise,'  and  haste  to  the  '  maintenance '  of  your  cause,  as  of 
'  His  own.'  " 

One  of  his  latest,  and,  I  might  add,  one  of  the  best  of 
his  biographers,  Mr  Benson,  says  of  his  sermons  in  general 
that  they  "  are  curiously  difficult  reading  ;  they  are  closely 
argued,  emphatically  stated,  but  have  not  the  quality  of 
permanence.  I  know  of  no  reading  where  the  attention  so 
persistently  wanders  and  is  so  rarely  enchained."1  In  truth, 
his  style  was  not  very  exhilarating.  For  instance,  he  begins 
the  sermon  from  which  I  have  just  made  an  extract  : — 
"  This  psalm  in  the  very  letter  is  a  complaint  of  the  waste 
that  was  made  upon  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  profana 
tion  of  the  Temple  that  was  in  it.  And  these  go  together ; 
for  when  did  any  man  see  a  kingdom,  or  a  great  city,  wasted, 
and  the  mother  church  left  standing  in  beauty?  Sure  I 
think  never.  For  enemies  when  they  have  possessed  a  city 
seldom  think  themselves  masters  of  their  own  possessions, 
till  they  have,  as  they  think,  plucked  that  god  out  of  his 
house,  which  defended  the  city."  And  he  ends  with  : — "  As 
we  have  therefore  now  begun,  so  let  us  pray  on  as  the 
prophet  did,  that  God,  even  our  gracious  Father,  will  be  no 
longer  like  unto  one  that  sleeps  "  (and  then  he  continues  with 
"  thats  "—that  he  will  do  this,  that  he  will  do  that,  and  that  he 
will  do  the  other,  for  about  half  a  page,  finally  winding  up 
with  : — "  That  after  the  '  maintenance  of  His  own  cause '  here, 
we  may  in  our  several  times  be  received  up  to  Him  in  glory, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whom,  with  the  Father, 
&c."  In  short,  it  is  impossible  to  read  Laud's  published 
sermons  from  end  to  end  without  being  reminded  of  that 
barrel-organlike  tone  which  characterised  the  preaching 
common  in  Anglican  pulpits  forty  years  ago.  He  was  very 
fond  of  parading  his  knowledge  of  the  Fathers,  after  this 
fashion  : — "  So  the  ancient  Fathers,  Justin,  Tertullian,  Origen, 
Athanasius,  and  the  rest,  are  clear,  and  upon  very  good 
grounds,  &c." 

1  "  Archp.  Laud,"  A.  C.  Benson,  p.  199. 


48  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 


rca  1610. 
t-37- 


A  court  preacher,  in  those  days,  of  course,  would  have 
been  nothing  if  not  quasi-astrological  and  classical;  ac 
cordingly  we  find  him  saying  things  of  this  sort: — "Join 
them,  and  '  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit,'  and  I  will  fear  no 
danger  though  Mars  were  *  lord  of  the  ascendant '  in  the  very 
instant  of  his  '  session '  of  Parliament,  and  '  in  the  second 
house,'  or  joined,  or  in  aspect,  with  the  '  lord  of  the  second,' 
which  yet  Ptolemy  thought  brought  much  hurt  to  common 
wealths."  And,  again : — "  As  you  may  see  in  that  brag  of 
the  heathen  in  Minutius  Felix." 

In  order  "  to  be  near  my  Ld.  of  Rochester,"  he  exchanged 
his  advowson  of  North  Kilworth  for  West  Tilbery  in  Essex, 
in  the  year  in  which  he  first  preached  before  the  king,  and  in 
the  following,  "  My  Ld.  of  Rochester  gave  me  Cuckstone  in 
Kent,  Maii  25,  1610."  About  four  months  afterwards  he 
resigned  his  Fellowship  of  St  John's  College.  "  Left  Oxford," 
he  says,  "the  8th  of  the  same  month"  (October  1610).  And 
doubtless  not  a  few  of  the  authorities  at  Oxford  would  be 
heartily  glad  to  get  rid  of  him. 

Less  than  a  month  after  he  had  left  Oxford,  he  wrote  :— 
"  I  fell  sick  of  a  Kentish  Ague,  caught  at  my  Benefice, 
Novemb.  5,  1610,  which  held  me  two  months."  Perhaps  this 
made  him  anxious  to  quit  so  unhealthy  a  living,  at  any  rate, 
before  the  month  was  out,  or  his  fit  of  ague  over,  he  "  left 
Kuckstone,  and  was  inducted  in  Norton,  Novemb.  1610  by 
Proxy." 

With  the  above,  stands  the  entry,  "  In  the  midst  of  this 
Sickness,  the  Suit  about  the  Presidentship  of  St  John's 
began."  His  old  tutor,  Buckeridge,  who  had  for  some  time 
held  the  presidentship,  resigned  it,  and  he  was  proposed  in 
his  stead.  Party  feeling  ran  very  high  on  either  side ;  but 
he  had  many  staunch  friends  in  his  old  college,  and  in  May 
he  was  elected.  Whether  by  accident  or  design — it  was  said 
that  one  of  the  fellows  tore  it  from  the  bursar's  hand  and 
burned  it — the  paper  on  which  was  written  the  result  of  the 
scrutiny  was  destroyed.  Lord  Chancellor  Ellsmere,  incited 
by  Abbott,  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  elect,  objected  to 
Laud's  appointment,  and  appealed  to  the  king. 


i;ca38'6"-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  49 

In  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers,1  we  find  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  Bilson,  writing  in  June  to  King  James,  as  to 
"illegal  methods  pursued  in  the  election  of  Dr  Laud  as 
President  of  St  John's  College,  Oxford,"  and  a  reply  from 
the  king,  inquiring  "  whether  the  illegality  in  Dr  Laud's 
election  proceeded  from  faction  or  misconstruction  of  the 
Statutes,"  adding  that,  "  the  Council  on  both  parties  are  to 
be  re-heard  for  a  final  decision."  In  August,  King  James 
heard  the  case  at  Tichbourne,  in  person,  sitting  three  hours 
over  it,  and  confirmed  the  election.  A  few  weeks  later,  we 
find  him  writing  to  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  that  he  "  con 
siders  the  election  of  Dr  Laud  as  President  of  St  John's 
College,  Oxford,  was  no  further  corrupt  or  partial  than  all 
elections  are  liable  to  be ;  therefore  wishes  it  to  stand,  and 
clearer  interpretations  of  the  Statutes  to  be  made  for  the 
future."2 

According  to  Heylin,  Laud  felt  no  ill-will  towards  his 
opponents  at  his  election.  "  To  the  other  fellows,"  he  says, 
"  who  had  opposed  him  in  his  election,  he  always  showed  a 
fair  and  equal  countenance,  hoping  to  gain  them  by  degrees ; 
but  if  he  found  any  to  be  intractable,  and  not  easily  to  be 
gained  by  favours,  he  would  find  some  handsome  way  or 
another  to  remove  them  out  of  the  college,  that  others,  not 
engaged  either  side,  might  succeed  in  their  places."  This 
is  not  exactly  the  disposition  commonly  assigned  by  his 
torians  to  Laud  ;  but  it  should  be  studied  for  what  it  is 
worth  ;  nor  should  we  forget  that  to  "  remove  "  his  enemies 
"  out  of  the  college  "  was  not  unconducive  to  his  own  interests, 
or  that  unless  this  had  been  done  in  a  "  handsome  way,"  the 
obnoxious  fellows  would  have  refused  to  go. 

It  was  not  so  much  to  any  of  the  fellows  as  to  Abbott 
that  he  attributed  the  opposition  to  his  election.  On  May 
10,  1611,  he  wrote  in  his  Diary: — "The  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  was  the  original  cause  of  all  my  troubles." 

Among  the  Stonyhurst  MSS.  (Anglia,  vol.  iii.  n.  103)  is 
a  letter  written  during  the  same  month  by  the  Jesuit,  Father 
Coffin  or  Cuffyn,  alias  Hatton,  alluding  to  this  same  Arch- 

1  P.  43,  June  14,  1611.        2  lb.,  p.  76,  Sept.  23,  1611. 
D 


50  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  \ 

bishop  in  the  following  terms  : — "  To  Bancroft  the  pseudo 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  succeeds  George  Abbot,  a  brutal 
and  fierce  man,  and  a  sworn  enemy  of  the  very  name  of 
Catholic."  And  what  follows  shows  the  strong  anti- 
Catholic  spirit  then  prevailing.  "The  King  meditates  the 
extermination  of  all  Catholics  ;  the  prisons  are  everywhere 
crammed  ;  the  Catholics  hide  themselves  in  caves  and  holes 
of  the  earth,  and  others  fly  before  the  face  of  the  persecutors 
into  these  parts.  An  infinite  number  of  pursuivants  riotously 
pass  through  every  county  of  England,  and  it  is  incredible  to 
tell  how  they  harass  and  afflict  the  most  innocent  men ;  for, 
entering  the  houses  and  lands,  they  carry  off  everything 
— beds,  tables,  covers,  clothes,  chests,  trunks,  and  especially 
money.  If  they  find  the  master  of  the  house  they  thrust  the 
infamous  oath  of  supremacy  upon  him,  and  if  he  refuses  to 
take  it,  they  carry  him  off  to  the  nearest  gaol,  there  in 
poverty  and  chains,  in  darkness  and  squalor,  in  hunger  and 
nakedness, — vel  ducat  vitam,  vel  animatn  agat.  The  times 
of  Elizabeth,  although  most  cruel,  were  the  mildest  and 
happiest,  in  comparison  of  those  of  James."1 

Another  testimony  to  Abbott's  persecution  of  Catholics 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Chronological  Notes  of  the  English 
Congregation  of  the  Order  of  St  Benedict?  by  Dom  Bennet 
Weldon,  O.S.B.  of  St  Edmund's,  Paris.  He  gives  an  account 
of  the  martyrdom  of  Father  Maurus,  a  Benedictine  monk. 
"  He  was  banished  and  so  went  to  Douay,  from  whence 
returning  to  England,  he  was  soon  taken  and  pursued  to 
death  by  the  aforementioned  George  Abbot,  Titular  Bishop 
of  London,  to  whom  he  was  carried  to  be  examined.  The 
chief  proof  of  his  priesthood  urged  against  him  was  that  as 
he  came  by  water  from  Graves  End,  that  he  might  not  be 
discovered  he  flung  into  the  Thames  a  little  bag  where  his 
Breviary,  faculties,  medals  and  crosses  were,  which  a  fisher 
man  catching  in  his  net,  carried  to  George  Abbot,  Titular 
Bishop  of  London  (now  become)  Titular  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  As  soon  as  Father  Maurus  heard  the  fatal 
sentence,  he  answered  with  a  loud  voice,  '  Thanks  be  to  God, 

1  "  Records  of  the  Eng.  Prov.  S.  J.,"  series  I,  p.  70.          2  Chap,  xxvii. 


xviith  cent.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  5 1 

never  any  news  did  I  ever  more  wish  for,  nor  were  there  ever 
any  so  welcome  to  me,  &c.'  *  But  be  you  all  witness  I  pray 
you,  that  I  have  committed  no  crime  against  his  Majesty 
or  the  country :  I  am  only  accused  of  Priesthood  and  for 
Priesthood  condemned.'  This  said,  he  returned  to  prison 
as  unconcerned  as  if  nothing  had  been  done  against  him, 
whereas  the  said  Titular  Bishop,  George  Abbot,  who  sat 
with  the  Judges  to  hear  him  condemned,  withdrew  from  the 
company  like  a  man  possessed  with  Orestes'  furies.  R.  F. 
Maurus  gave  up  his  life  on  Whitsun  Eve  on  the  Qth  of  June 
(1612)  very  courageously  with  Mr  Newport  a  Secular  Priest." 

I  dwell  the  more  upon  Abbott's  persecution  of  Catholics ; 
because  I  wish  to  show  that  Laud,  when,  in  course  of  time, 
he  succeeded  Abbott  in  the  archbishopric,  although  guilty 
of  occasionally  persecuting  them,  nevertheless  to  some  ex 
tent  curbed  the  zeal  of  the  pursuivants,  and  that  he  even 
threatened  one  of  them,  who  had  made  himself  notoriously 
obnoxious,  with  a  whipping. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  hearing  of  the  appeal  against 
Laud's  election  to  the  Presidentship  of  St  John's  raised  him 
in  King  James's  estimation  ;  for,  within  little  more  than  a 
couple  of  months,  he  made  him  one  of  his  own  royal 
chaplains.  It  is,  more  or  less,  from  this  date,  that  Laud's 
court  life  may  be  said  to  have  begun.  His  presidentship, 
together  with  the  inheritance  which  had  befallen  him  on  his 
mother's  death,  gave  him  tolerable  wealth  for  a  bachelor,  and 
he  had  no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  the  expenses  which  his 
visits  to  the  royal  palaces  might  entail  upon  him.  Of  the 
monarch  at  that  time  presiding  over  the  court,  it  is  not 
necessary  that  I  should  say  much  :  everybody  knows  him  to 
have  been  a  clever  fool,  and  an  intolerable  prig ;  everybody 
is  aware  that  he  was  as  ugly  as  he  was  vain,  as  shrewd  as 
he  was  unpractical,  as  drunken  as  he  was  religious,  and  as 
bombastic  as  he  was  cowardly. 

His  finances  were  already  in  a  low  condition.  Indeed,  in 
the  very  year  that  he  made  Laud  his  chaplain  (1611),  he 
endeavoured  to  raise  the  wind  by  means  of  the  ingenious 
device  of  a  new  dignity,  which  he  offered,  to  the  number  of 


52  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

two  hundred  patents,  to  any  gentlemen  of  good  family,  or 
possessed  of  clear  annual  incomes  of  £1000,  who  would 
provide  him  with  the  monetary  equivalent  of  thirty  soldiers 
for  three  years ;  that  is  to  say,  £1095.  The  dignity  was  to 
be  termed  a  Baronetcy.  This  honour  was  not  so  greedily 
sought  for  as  had  been  expected,  and  at  the  end  of  six  years 
less  than  half  of  the  two  hundred  patents  had  been  sold, 
the  amount  thus  realised  being  about  .£101,835. 

Laud  had  not  been  many  months  President  of  St  John's 
College,  before  a  death  occurred  which  made  some  stir  in 
his  university.  Like  Laud,  Sir  Thomas  Bodley  had  been 
fellow  of  his  college  (Merton),  had  served  the  office  of 
proctor,  and  had  risen  to  royal  favour ;  but,  after  being  em 
ployed  in  several  embassies,  he  had  fallen  into  disgrace,  and 
in  1597  retired  into  private  life.  He  then  set  to  work  to 
restore  the  public  library  at  Oxford,  which  he  rebuilt.  The 
first  stone  of  this  library,  which  now  bears  his  name,  was 
laid  the  year  before  Laud  was  made  President  of  St  John's, 
and  the  year  afterwards  Bodley  died.  It  is  merely  to  show 
that  even  great  public  benefactors  have  their  detractors, 
and  with  no  desire  to  lessen  the  credit  of  a  celebrated  name, 
that,  in  addition  to  the  panegyric  of  Isaac  Wake  in  a  letter 
to  Carleton,  announcing  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas  Bodley — 
"leaving  all  lovers  of  learning  sorrowful  bemoners  of  their 
owne  loss  in  his,"1  I  quote  a  few  extracts  from  the  State 
Calendar  recounting  letters  from  Chamberlain  to  Carleton, 
during  the  months  succeeding  his  death : — "  Death  of  Sir 
Thomas  Bodley.  Particulars  of  his  will.  He  has  left 
legacies  to  great  people,  £7000  to  his  library,  and  £200  to 
Merton  College  ;  but  little  to  his  brothers,  his  old  servants, 
his  friends,  or  the  children  of  his  wife,  by  whom  he  had  all 
his  wealth."  "  Sir  Thomas  Bodley's  executors  cannot  excuse 
him  of  unthankfulness  to  many  of  his  relatives  and  friends, 
he  being  '  so  drunk  with  the  applause  and  vanitie  of  his 
librarie,  that  he  made  no  conscience  to  rob  Peter  to  pay 
Paul.'  "  "  The  great  funeral  at  Oxford  is  the  last  act  of  Sir 
Thomas  Bodley's  vanity,  whose  ambition  appears  in  many 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1611-18,  p.  168. 


xviithcent.j  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  53 

ways." l  Be  all  this,  however,  as  it  may,  Bodley's  example, 
and  the  sensation  made  by  his  death  and  imposing  funeral, 
so  soon  after  Laud  had  taken  up  his  position  as  President 
of  St  John's,  is  not  unlikely  to  have  imbued  the  latter  with 
an  ambition  to  distinguish  himself,  as  he  subsequently  did 
by  adding  to  the  literary  treasures  of  his  university. 

A  period  at  which  Laud  was  rising  in  court  favour  may 
not  be  unfitting  for  a  notice  of  a  criticism  by  a  foreign 
ambassador  on  that  court  and  sundry  other  English  matters. 
If  Sir  John  Digby,  writing  from  Madrid,2  is  to  be  trusted,  the 
Spanish  Ambassador  sent  home  the  following  report  of  the 
English  court : — "  That  the  King  grows  too  fat  to  be  able  to 
hunt  comfortably  ;  spends  much  time  in  reading,  especially 
religious  works,  and  eats  and  drinks  so  recklessly  that  it  is 
thought  he  will  not  be  long  lived  ;  he  is  obstinate  in  his 
religious  opinions."  "  That  the  Prince  is  a  fine  youth  of 
sweet  disposition,  and,  under  good  masters,  might  be  easily 
trained  to  the  religion  his  predecessors  lived  in."  "  That 
Catholics  are  persecuted  by  the  Archp.  of  Canterbury " 
(Laud's  great  enemy,  Abbott)  "  and  Bp.  of  London,  and  by 
the  King,  in  hope  to  propitiate  Parliament  into  granting 
subsidies,  and  that  he  may  have  their  forfeitures  to  give  to 
his  servants."  Anti-Catholicism,  therefore,  would  appear  to 
have  been  the  best  method  of  rising  in  court  favour  at 
that  particular  time.  About  the  same  period,  Laud  writes  of 
more  than  one  "  unfortunateness  "  which  he  had  with  people 
whose  names  are  only  hinted  at  by  initials.  It  is  just 
possible  that  these  "  unfortunatenesses  "  may  have  been  the 
result  of  his  refusing  to  join  in  the  violent  no-popery  cry 
then  evidently  in  repute  at  court. 

In  the  court,  as  at  Oxford,  death  carried  away  an 
important  personage  at  the  end  of  the  year  1612.  Sir 
Thomas  Lake  wrote  to  Carleton,3  in  November,  of  the 
"death  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  the  pride  of  his  years, 
on  the  anniversary  of  a  memorable  deliverance,  and  the 
eve  of  his  sister's  marriage.  The  king,  apprehending  the 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  various  letters.  ~  Jb.,  vol.  Ixxiv.  No.  58. 

3  Ib. ,  vol.  Ixxi.  No.  31. 


54  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [St?^1.612' 

worst,  and  not  enduring  to  be  so  near  the  place,  removed 
to  Theobalds,  and  kept  his  bed."  We  see  something  of 
the  character  of  James  I.  here.  "The  queen  is  at  Somer 
set  House.  They  have  not  seen  each  other  '  for  feare  to 
refresh  the  sense  of  the  wound.'  " 

The  "sister's  marriage"  here  spoken  of  was  destined  to 
give  Laud  some  trouble  in  the  future.  Prince  Frederick, 
Elector  Palatine,  had  just  come  to  England  to  marry  the 
Princess  Elizabeth,  when  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  was  taken 
ill  and  died.  This  approaching  marriage  was  eagerly 
encouraged  by  the  Puritan  and  Calvinistic  party  in  this 
country.  To  Laud's  enemy,  Abbott,  it  must  have  been 
especially  grateful,  and  we  find  him  feasting  the  bridegroom 
and  all  his  followers.  About  seven  weeks  after  the  death 
of  Prince  Henry,  the  betrothal  took  place,  and  received 
Abbott's  benediction,  for  which  he  in  his  turn  received  a 
present  of  plate  from  Prince  Frederick,  worth  ^looo.1  On 
the  fourteenth  of  the  following  February,  he  married  the 
royal  couple  in  the  chapel  at  Whitehall. 

Some  notes,  in  Laud's  handwriting,  attributed  to  the  same 
year,  refer  to,  and  are  placed  with,  some  satirical  papers 
"  relating  to  the  foundation  of  a  Mock  College  for  Innocents 
or  Fools,  to  be  called  Gotam  College,  Oxford." 2  His  notes 
are  indorsed  upon  a  complimentary  ode,  addressed  to 
himself. 

Dr  Neile,  now  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  continued  to  patronise 
Laud.  The  year  after  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth, 
that  is  to  say  in  1614,  Laud  being  then  forty-one,  he  gave 
him  the  Prebendary  of  Bugden.  During  the  same  year, 
Laud  suffered  from  "a  most  fierce  salt  Rheume,"  in  his  "left 
Eye,  like  to  have  endangered  it."  3  In  the  following  year,  he 
reached  a  higher  ecclesiastical  grade,  being  made  Archdeacon 
of  Huntingdon  by  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 

It  was  somewhere  about  this  time  that  Abbott's  brother, 
then  Vice-Chancellor  of  Oxford,  made  the  violent  onslaught 
upon  Laud,  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  from  the  pulpit 

1  Howe's  "Chron.,"  p.  1007. 
2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  vol.  Ixxv.,  Nos.  56-66.  3  Diary,  p.  3. 


15']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  55 

of  St  Mary's,  calling  him  a  "  mungrel,"  and  asking  him 
whether  he  was  a  Papist  or  a  Protestant.  The  matter 
appears  to  have  been  referred  to  the  king,  for  the  following 
entry  of  a  letter  occurs  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers 
(Domestic)  in  June  I6I5.1  "The  King  permits  Dr  Laud's 
return  to  Oxford,  having  made  an  end  of  all  those  matters, 
the  Archbishop  having  acknowledged  the  error  of  his  brother 
in  it,  and  Dr  Abbot  having  apologized  by  saying  that  all 
the  University  understood  Dr  Laud's  remarks  were  meant 
for  him.  Imperfect.  Indorsed  [by  Laud],  'What  His 
Magistye  sayd  concerninge  Dr  Abbot's  sermon  against 
me.' " 

To  have  wrung  an  apology  from  Archbishop  Abbott,  or 
at  least  an  acknowledgment  of  the  error  of  his  brother,  was 
a  great  triumph  for  Laud.  Perhaps  his  patron,  the  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  may  have  aided  him  ;  nor  is  the  latter  unlikely 
to  have  been  in  the  royal  favour  just  at  that  time,  as  he  was 
then  engaged  in  pressing  his  clergy  to  furnish  arms  to  the 
king.  In  the  very  same  month  he  wrote  to  the  following 
effect,  to  one,  John  Lambe.  "  The  clergy  of  the  diocese, 
being  less  forward  than  was  hoped  in  the  benevolence,  they 
are  no  longer  to  enjoy  exemption  from  providing  arms  for 
the  musters.  Requests  him  to  search  the  old  books,  and 
give  notice  to  them  of  what  is  required  of  each.  Those 
whose  livings  are  below  £40  are  to  be  spared  ;  those  of 
£4.0  and  .£50  to  be  put  two  to  a  musket ;  of  £60,  two 
to  a  corslet;  of  £70  to  £100,  muskets;  £100  to  ^140, 
corslets;  £140  to  £200,  petronels ;  and  above  .£200, 
lances."'2  Abbott,  however,  wrote  to  Neile  commending 
his  action. 

As  court  chaplain,  Laud  was  summoned  from  Oxford  to 
Woodstock,  in  1616,  to  preach  before  King  James  ;  and  he 
"preached,  with  great  applause"  (sic)  "from  Miriam's  leprosy, 
as  a  warning  to  detractors  against  Government."  3  Next  to 
his  God,  Laud  worshipped  his  king,  and  how  far  he  did  this 
on  principle,  and  how  far  with  a  view  to  obtaining  royal 

1   "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  vol.  Ixxx.,  No.  124.         °  /£.,  vol.  Ixxx.,  No.  123. 
3  /£.,  vol.  Ixxxviii.,  No.  61. 


56  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 


16. 


patronage  is  a  question  upon  which  his  various  biographers 
have  differed  considerably.  Without  committing  myself  un 
conditionally  to  either  opinion  on  the  matter,  I  may  say  that 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  his  faith  in  the  Divine  Right 
of  Kings,  and  especially  of  English  kings,  was  almost  as 
strong  as  his  faith  in  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN  the  year  1616 — that  of  Shakespeare's  death,  by  the 
way,  an  event  probably  of  little  interest  to  Laud,  whose 
nature  was  anything  but  poetical — the  subject  of  my  story 
had  so  far  advanced  in  royal  favour  as  to  be  taken  to 
Scotland  by  King  James  I.  The  feeling  in  that  country 
towards  anything  like  High-Church  practices  may  be  under 
stood  when  I  say  that  Laud  gave  great  offence  there,  by 
once  wearing  a  surplice  at  a  funeral.1  Chamberlain  writes 
to  Carleton : — "  Exceptions  taken  by  the  Scotch  at  Dr  Laud, 
for  putting  on  a  surplice  at  a  funeral,  and  at  the  Dean  of  St 
Paul's  for  commending  the  soul  of  the  deceased  to  God,  which 
he  was  forced  to  retract.  They  are  so  averse  to  English 
customs,  that  a  Scottish  bishop,  Dean  of  the  King's  chapel,  re 
fused  to  receive  the  sacrament  with  His  Majesty,  kneeling."  - 

The  king,  himself,  did  little  to  make  Laud  popular 
by  telling  the  Scotch  divines  that  "  he  had  brought  some 
English  theologians  to  enlighten  their  minds."3  As  Mr 
Benson  very  truly  says,  "  Had  Laud  known  it,  on  this 
occasion  was  sown  that  vast  unintermitting  Scottish  hatred 
of  the  man  that  was  so  great  a  factor  in  his  fall."  4 

It  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  religious  republic 
that  King  James  attempted  to  reform  in  Scotland.  Without 
denying  that  King  Charles  was  chiefly  responsible  for  his 
own  overthrow,  it  may  be  pretty  safe  to  assert  that  James 
did  much  to  prepare  it  by  his  treatment  of  ecclesiastical 
matters  in  the  North.  He  began  by  selecting  thirteen 
clergymen  of  what  he  considered  orthodox  views,  and 
appointing  them  to  the  vacant  Scottish  bishoprics.  For  the 
moment,  however,  we  will  take  our  leave  of  Scotch  affairs 

1  Nichol's  Progresses.  2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1611-18,  p.  473. 

3  Mozeley's  "Essays,"  vol.  i.  p.  129.    4  "Archp.  Laud,"  Benson,  p.  37. 


58  Life  of  Archbishop  La^ld. 

to  notice  those  of  Laud.  While  he  was  yet  in  Scotland, 
the  deanery  of  Gloucester  fell  vacant,  and  was  bestowed 
upon  him  by  the  king. 

This  appointment  showed  what  a  step  he  had  made  in 
the  king's  graces.  Only  three  or  four  years  earlier  he  had 
apparently  made  so  little  progress,  and  was  so  little  noticed 
by  the  king,  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  altogether  retiring 
from  court,  and  contenting  himself  with  Oxford  life,  when  his 
friend  and  patron,  Neile,  dissuaded  him  and  induced  him  to 
make  another  trial.  This  was  rewarded  by  the  journey  with 
the  king  to  Scotland  and  the  "  Deanry  "  of  Gloucester. 

This  deanery,  however,  was  not  found  to  be  a  bed  of  roses. 
The  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  Dr  Miles  Smith,  was  a  great 
Hebrician,  and  a  translator  of  the  so-called  "  Bishop's 
Bible  "  ;  but  very  Calvinistic  in  his  views.  One  of  the  first 
things  that  his  new  dean  did,  was  to  remove  the  communion 
table  from  the  "  middest  of  the  quire  "  *  and  place  it  altarwise 
against  the  east  wall. 

The  Bishop  was  furious.  "  No  sooner  had  he  heard  what 
the  new  Dean  had  done  about  the  Communion  Table,  but  he 
expressed  his  dislike  of  it."  "He  is  said  to  have  protested 
unto  the  Dean,  and  some  of  the  Prebends,  that  if  the 
Communion  Table  were  removed,  or  any  such  innovations 
brought  into  that  Cathedral,  he  would  never  come  more 
within  those  walls."2  He  deputed  his  chaplain  to  write 
about  the  matter  to  the  chancellor  of  the  diocese,  acquainting 
him  "  with  the  strange  Reports  which  were  come  unto  them 
touching  the  situation  of  the  Communion  Table  in  the  place 
where  the  High  Altar  stood  before,  and  that  low  obeysances 
were  made  to  it,  assuring  him  how  much  the  secret  Papists 
would  rejoyce."  He  went  on  to  express  his  astonishment 
"  that  no  man  should  have  any  spark  of  Elias  Spirit  to  speak 
a  word  in  God's  behalf,  and  the  Preachers  should  swallow 
down  such  things  in  silence,  and  that  the  Prebends  should  be 
so  faint-hearted  as  to  shrink  in  the  first  wetting,  especially 
having  the  Law  on  their  side  against  it."  3 

Whatever  "  the  Law  "  may  have  been,  Laud  had  a  power- 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang."  p.  63.  2  /<$.,  p.  64.  3  Ib. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  59 

ful  precedent  for  his  treatment  of  the  communion-table,  in  its 
position  in  the  king's  own  chapel,  to  say  nothing  of  many 
of  the  cathedrals,  and  he  held  his  own  against  the  bishop, 
who  is  said  never  to  have  re-entered  his  own  cathedral  on 
account  of  the  objectionable  situation  of  what  he  termed  the 
"  Nehushtan."  I  do  not  suppose  that  Laud  broke  his  heart 
at  his  absence.  It  is  often  thrown  in  the  teeth  of  ritualists 
that,  unlike  the  early  High-Churchmen  of  the  Anglican 
Establishment,  they  refuse  to  obey  their  bishops  when  they 
object  to  their  advanced  proceedings.  In  the  conduct  of 
Laud  towards  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  they  have  a 
valuable  precedent.  Among  the  state  papers,  is  a  letter 
to  Laud, l  in  which  his  correspondent  complains  of  a  libel, 
in  much  the  same  tone  as  that  expressed  in  the  letter  of 
the  bishop's  chaplain  already  quoted,  and  advises  that  the 
attention  of  the  Court  of  High  Commission  should  be  called 
to  it,  attributing  the  whole  matter  to  "  that  scismaticall  faction 
of  the  Puritanes." 

Laud  had  not  long  been  Dean  of  Gloucester  when  another 
living  was  given  to  him,  that  of  Ibstock  in  Leicestershire. 
The  following  year,  he  received  a  reminder  that  court 
favourites  did  not  invariably  come  to  a  happy  end,  in  the 
execution  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  whose  courageous  conduct 
on  the  scaffold  was,  as  it  were,  a  sort  of  precursor  of  his 
own. 

About  the  same  time,  or  a  trifle  earlier,  arrived  in  England, 
an  ecclesiastic  whose  presence  did  a  good  deal  to  encourage 
the  king  in  his  theological  designs.  Much  as  James,  his  son 
Charles  after  him,  and  Laud  also,  desired  to  make  the 
Puritans  "conformable,"  the  great  wish  of  their  hearts  was, 
that  the  Catholics  should  acknowledge  the  Anglican  Estab 
lishment  to  be  the  Catholic  Church  in  England,  and  that 
they  should  become,  what  Mr  Froude  terms,  Catholics  with 
out  the  Pope.  It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  the  majority 
of  the  Catholics  in  England,  that  is  the  majority  of  the 
English  people,  had  lost,  or  shall  I  say  been  robbed  of,  their 
Catholicism  and  become  Protestants  in  the  days  of  Edward 

1  Domestic,  vol.  xc.,  No.  75. 


60  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [circa  1616-22. 

VI.  and  Elizabeth ;  indeed,  it  was  their  tendency  to  go  too 
far  in  this  direction,  which  was  the  principal  religious  trouble 
of  the  Stuart  kings;  but  what  the  latter  most  anxiously  sought 
for,  was  that  the  remnant  still  faithful  to  their  Catholicism 
should  come  to  the  Anglican  churches,  receive  communion  in 
them,  and  acknowledge  the  king  as  head  of  the  Church  in  this 
country. 

King  James  flattered  himself  that  many  English  Catholics 
Avould  be  led  to  do  this  by  the  example  of  an  illustrious 
Roman  Catholic  foreigner,  Marco  Antonio  de  Dominis,  no 
less  a  personage  than  His  Grace  the  Archbishop  of  Spalatro, 
who  came  to  England  and  joined  the  Established  Church  of 
the  country. 

He  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  good  mathematician  and 
man  of  science,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  to  pro 
mulgate  the  true  theory  of  the  rainbow.  He  was  consecrated 
Bishop  of  Segni,  and  was  afterwards  raised  to  the  Arch 
bishopric  of  Spalatro.  There  the  spirit  of  reform  overcame 
him,  and,  having  offended  the  Pope,  he  had  to  fly  from  his 
archdiocese.  At  Venice,  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
Anglican  Bishop  Bedell,  who  was  then  acting  as  chaplain  to 
the  English  Ambassador,  Sir  Henry  Wotton.  Bedell  brought 
him  to  England,  where  he  published  a  book  and  dedicated  it 
to  King  James.1 

So  far  as  ecclesiastical  rank  was  concerned,  he  was  the 
richest  "  take "  of  any  foreign  convert  since  the  establish 
ment  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  possibly  the  chief 
authorities  in  that  body  may  have  flattered  themselves  that 
if  an  Italian  Archbishop  had  joined  it,  there  were  hopes  that 
the  Pope  himself  might  follow  him.  To  Laud  and  James 
his  "  conversion  "  must  have  been  a  matter  of  unqualified  and 
intense  satisfaction. 

In  the  year  1618,  Brent  wrote  a  letter2  to  Carleton,  be 
ginning  by  saying  that  the  king  was  in  bed  with  the  gout, 
and  going  on  to  inform  him  that  the  Archbishop  of  Spalatro 
had  been  made  Master  of  the  Savoy.  He  was  "printing  a 
book  more  strongly  against  Rome  than  ever."  Nine  days 

1  "  Ency.  Brit.,"  8th  Ed.,  vol.  vii.  p.  100.          2Dom.,  vol.  xcvi.  No.  51. 


&•  43-59- ]  Life  of  A rch b ish op  Laud.  6 1 

later,1  the  archbishop  himself  wrote  to  the  receiver  of  the 
above  letter,  sending  a  copy  of  his  book,  and  informing  him 
that  the  king  had  made  him  not  only  Master  of  the  Savoy, 
but  also  a  Prebend  of  Canterbury,  and  Dean  of  Windsor. 

The  estimation  among  Catholics  of  the  validity  of  Angli 
can  orders  is  well  known  ;  but  a  somewhat  different  com 
plexion  might  be  put  upon  the  question,  if  this  Catholic 
bishop  actually  consecrated  any  Anglican  bishops,  at  any 
rate  so  far  as  their  own  individual  successors  are  concerned.2 
Chamberlain  wrote  to  Carleton,  in  Dec.  1617  : — "  The  Archbp. 
of  Spalato  assisted  the  Archbp.  of  Canterbury  and  other 
Bishops  in  laying  hands  on  the  new  Bishops  of  Bristol  and 
Lincoln,  Drs  Felton  and  Montaigne."  3  Yet  there  is  nothing 
in  this  to  show  that  he  was  the  consecrating  bishop :  the 
inference,  indeed,  would  be  exactly  the  contrary. 

Nearly  a  year  later,  we  find  a  letter  between  the  same 
correspondents  saying  that  the  archbishop  had  "sunk  in 
estimation,  by  intruding  into  a  parsonage  in  the  gift  of  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  Windsor."4  In  fact,  Laud's  great 
friend,  Montague,  said  that  de  Dominis  was  so  greedy  of 
preferment  that  he  would  "be  circumcised  and  denie  Jesus 
Christ,  if  the  Grand  Signior  would  make  him  chiefe  Muftie." 

This  dignitary  only  affects  my  biography  in  so  far  as 
the  joining  the  Anglican  Church  by  so  exalted  a  Catholic 
ecclesiastic  was  an  important  event  during  the  life  of  Laud, 
and,  although  it  obliges  me  to  anticipate,  I  will  dispose  of 
him  as  shortly  as  I  well  can. 

In  March  1622,  Locke  wrote:5 — "The  Bishop  of  Spalato 
has  resigned  the  Deanery  of  Windsor,"  and  there  is  a 
document  of  a  date  but  little  later,  of  still  greater  importance.6 
It  reports  that  the  archbishop  requested  the  king  for  his 

1  Dom.,  vol.  xcvi.    No.  62. 

-  The  difficulty,  however,  would  still  remain,  that  "  in  the  ordination  of  a  priest 
or  bishop,"  "  there  was  then  no  express  mention  made  in  the  words  of  ordaining 
t/iem,  that  it  ivas  for  the  one  or  other  office.  In  both  it  was  said,  '  Receive  the 
Holy  Ghost,  in  the  name  of,  &c.' "  (Burnet's  "  I  list,  of  Ref."  ii.  b.  i.,  p.  252,  ed. 
Pocock).  It  was  not  until  1662  (see  Reeling's  "  Liturgiae  Britannioe  ")  that  the 
words,  "  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  office  and  work  of  a  Bishop,  &c.,"  were 
added. 

3  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  i6li-i8,p.  504.  4  Ib.t  p.  595. 

5/£.,  p.  366.  6/£.,  p.  367. 


62  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  circa  1616-22. 

dismissal,  when  the  Bishops  of  London  and  Durham,  and  the 
Dean  of  Winchester,  were  sent  to  him  by  His  Majesty  to 
accuse  him  of  holding  intercourse  with  the  Pope.  He  denied 
that  he  had  held  direct  intercourse ;  but  he  said  that  he 
wished  to  go  to  Rome  in  the  hope  of  promoting  "  the  good 
of  England  by  persuading  the  Pope  to  allow  of  the  Oath  of 
Allegiance ;  also  that  he  thought,  as  both  Churches  agreed 
on  fundamentals,  a  reconciliation  might  be  effected."  "  He 
said  he  desired  the  union  of  the  two  religions  by  mutually 
yielding ;  gave  his  opinion  on  transubstantiation,  the  worship 
of  the  Virgin,  &c."  A  series  of  communications  between 
the  king  and  himself  was  carried  on  through  letters  and 
messengers.  Then  Abbott,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  went 
to  him  and  censured  him  "  for  returning  to  a  Church  which 
he  had  called  Babylon."  He  replied  that  Pope  "  Gregory 
XV.  was  a  good  man,  and  many  things  were  now  reformed, 
but  he  would  always  protest  the  Church  of  England  to  be 
orthodox  in  fundamentals.  Then  they  told  him  that  the 
King  did  not  grant  him  leave  to  depart,  but  ordered  him  to 
begone  from  the  realm  in  twenty  days,  never  to  return  at  his 
peril." a  There  is  no  evidence  that  Laud  had  anything  to  do 
with  this  peremptory  dismissal ;  but  it  sounds  rather  in  his  style, 
and  we  know  that  he  was  at  that  time  in  favour  at  court. 

A  curious  letter2  exists  from  the  Archbishop  of  Spalatro 
to  Cyril,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria.  Protestant  re-unionists 
then,  as  now,  turned  to  the  East,  and  apparently  with  as 
little  success.  The  summary  of  the  letter  runs  : — "  Long 
groaned  under  the  Egyptian  bondage  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
but  at  last  escaped  a  year  before  to  Goschen,  which  is 
England,  where,  under  a  wise  and  pious  King,  true  defender 
of  the  faith,  the  cause  of  Christ  triumphs.  Sends  him  a  copy 
of  the  first  part  of  his  work  on  ecclesiastical  republics. 
Vindicates  therein  the  Eastern  Church  from  the  calumnies 
of  Rome.  Interests  him  to  become  an  agent  in  healing  the 
disunion  between  the  Eastern  Church  and  that  of  England, 
and  to  communicate  any  difficulties  that  he  may  see  therein 
to  the  Archbp.  of  Canterbury  or  to  himself." 

i  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1619-23,  pp.  367-8.  ~  Ib.y  p.  369. 


•fit.  43-59-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  63 

In  the  same  year,  he  returned  to  Rome  and  was  reconciled 
to  the  Catholic  Church.  It  is  of  this  period,  that,  in  his 
famous  Conference  with  Fisher,  Laud  wrote  to  that  Jesuit  :— 
"  When  you  had  fooled  the  archbishop  of  Spalatro  back  to 
Rome,  there  you  either  made  him  say,  or  said  it  for  him  (for 
in  print  it  is,  and  under  his  name),  that  since  it  is  now  defined 
by  the  Church,  a  man  is  as  much  bound  to  believe  there  is  a 
purgatory,  as  that  there  is  a  trinity  of  persons  in  the  Godhead, 
How  far  comes  this  short  of  blasphemy,  to  make  the  Trinity 
and  purgatory  things  alike  and  equally  credible."1 

The  archbishop,  however,  once  again  changed  his  mind, 
and  wrote  letters  to  England,  recanting  the  recantation  of 
his  recantation.  These  epistles  were  intercepted,  and  the 
heretic  was  imprisoned  in  the  Castle  of  St  Angelo,  where  he 
died.2  Shortly  before  that  event,  the  then  Rector  of  the 
English  College  at  Rome  is  reported  to  have  said  of  him  to 
Sir  Edward  Sackvill  : — "  He  was  a  Male-content  Knave  when 
he  fled  from  us,  a  Railing  Knave  while  he  lived  with  you, 
and  a  Motley,  parti-colour'd  Knave  now  he  is  come  again."  3 

Laud  was  a  good  deal  at  court  during  the  years  in  which  the 
king  was  so  much  interested  in  this  archiepiscopal/r<?/^/,  and 
the  very  unsatisfactory  outcome  of  the  whole  business  would  not 
be  likely  to  make  him  hope  much  for  the  future  of  the  Anglican 
Establishment  from  renegade  bishops  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 

We  must  now  go  back  to  the  period  of  Laud's  life  at  which 
we  left  it  to  consider  the  incident  of  the  conversion  to 
Anglicanism  of  this  Sicilian  dignitary. 

Great  changes  and  developments  were  beginning  at  Oxford, 
especially  in  the  direction  of  natural  science.  These  advance 
ments  were  chiefly  owed  to  the  energy  of  Laud,  Saville, 
Camden  and  Aldrich,  and  the  first  of  them,  the  Professorship 
of  Natural  History,  was  founded  in  1618.  The  need  of 
increased  knowledge  of  natural  history  in  those  days  may  be 
judged  from  a  work  that  was  published  more  than  sixty 
years  later.  The  whole  book  is  full  of  curiosities  ;  I  can 

1  "Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  p.  298. 

2  "  Ency.  Brit.,"  8th  Ed.,  vol.  viii.  p.  IOO,  and  Beeton's  "  Ency.,"  vol.  i. 

3  "  Scrinia  Reserata,"  by  John  Ilackett,  p.  104. 


64  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [circa  1619. 

only  give  here  a  few  specimens.  It  tells  us  that  swallows  in 
winter  either  "joyn  bill  to  bill,  wing  to  wing,  and  foot  to  foot, 
hanging  together  in  a  conglomerated  mass,"  and  sink  into 
the  sea,  or  else  they  go  to  warm  "  countreys  "  where  "  they 
have  been  found  naked  and  without  their  feathers."  "As  for 
the  Cameleopardus,  he  is  begotten  by  a  mixt  generation 
between  the  Camel  and  Leopard,  or  Panther."  "  As  for  your 
mimick  Dogs,  it  is  supposed  that  they  come  from  a  com- 
mixtion  of  Dogs  with  Apes."  The  long  streaming  spiders' 
webs  sometimes  seen  stretching  from  railings,  are  meteors, 
and  not  things  "spun  from  the  spider's  bowels,"  according 
to  the  "  fond  opinion,"  "  engrafted  among  the  ignorant." 
Birds  of  Paradise  "  have  no  wings,  neither  do  they  fly,  but 
are  borne  up  in  the  air  by  the  subtility  of  their  plumes  and 
lightness  of  their  body."  l  At  the  same  time,  it  is  only  fair 
to  say  that  science  was  rapidly  advancing,  and  that  at  about 
the  very  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  chair  of  Natural 
History  at  Oxford,  Harvey  made  his  great  discovery  con 
cerning  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 

A  Professorship  of  Geometry  was  founded  at  Oxford  in  1619, 
one  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  1621,  one  of  Ancient  History  in 
1622,  one  of  Anatomy  in  1626,  and  one  of  Music  in  the  same 
year  ;  Botany  followed  in  1632,  and  Arabic  four  years  later. 

Laud  was  seldom  long  without  an  illness  or  seizure  of  some 
sort,  and,  in  the  year  1619,  he  says  that  he  "fell  suddenly 
dead  for  a  time  at  Wickham,"  on  his  "  return  from  London." 

Laud  was  now,  and  had  been  for  some  little  time,  a 
courtier,  and  to  courtiers  this  year,  1619,  was  a  memorable 
one.  First  came  the  death  of  the  queen,  on  the  second  of 
March.  There  were  long  delays  before  the  funeral,  which 
did  not  take  place  until  May.  On  March  27th,  Chamberlain 
writes  to  Carleton  that  the  queen's  funeral  is  "postponed, 
because  the  Master  of  the  Wardrobe  will  not  pay  double 
prices,  as  are  usually  charged  now,  for  want  of  ready  money  "  ;2 
and  again,  nearly  a  month  later  : — "  The  delay  in  the  Queen's 
funeral  causes  remarks ;  the  charge  is  to  be  more  than  three 
times  that  of  Queen  Elizabeth's,  though  money  is  so  scarce 

1  Speculum  Mundi.  2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1619-23,  p.  27. 


&•  46 •  ]  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  6 5 

that  her  plate  will  have  to  be  coined."  Then  he  mentions 
"  contests  for  precedency  among  the  Lady  Mourners."  1  And 
when  it  is  over,  he  writes,  on  May  I4th  : — "The  procession 
at  the  Queen's  funeral  was  very  dull."  2  To  Carleton,  also, 
Brent  writes  that  the  cost  would  be  "  more  than  £40,000."  3 

In  the  meantime,  "  the  King  had  a  violent  attack  of  the 
stone." 4  Within  a  month  of  his  wife's  funeral,  he  returned 
in  state  to  Whitehall.  "  He  was  gaily  dressed  and  attended, 
which  will  seem  strange  to  the  Ambassadors  in  mourning, 
come  to  condole  [on  the  Queen's  death]."5  And  Brent 
writes : — "  The  Ambassador  of  Lorraine  came  in  mourning 
to  condole,  and  found  mourning  cast  off;  the  King  said  he 
should  have  come  sooner."0 

Another  momentous  event  to  the  English  court  in  1619, 
and  one  which  indirectly  affected  Laud,  was  the  coronation 
of  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  King  James  (who 
had  been  married  some  few  years  previously  to  the  Elector 
Palatine  Frederick)  as  Queen  of  Bohemia.  The  Emperor 
Ferdinand  had  not  long  been  crowned,  before  he  was 
deposed,  and  the  Elector  Palatine  was  elected  King  of 
Bohemia  in  his  stead. 

The  coronation  of  his  daughter  gave  James  little,  if  any, 
pleasure.  The  great  wish  of  his  heart  was  that  his  son, 
Charles,  should  marry  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  and  the  Spanish 
Ambassador  persuaded  him  that  the  elevation  of  his  daughter 
and  son-in-law  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia  was  a  skilfully  con 
trived  plot  to  oblige  him  to  break  off  his  attempted  alliance 
with  Spain  and  go  to  war  on  behalf  of  his  daughter,  Elizabeth. 

Archbishop  Abbott  urged  him  strongly  to  wage  war  for 
his  child  and  the  Protestant  faith  ;  but  he  refused  even  to 
countenance  his  son-in-law's  election  and  coronation  ;  say 
ing  that  it  was  the  "  work  of  a  faction  ; — that  his  subjects 
were  as  dear  to  him  as  his  daughter,  and  therefore  he  could 
not  consent  to  embroil  them  in  an  unjust  war."  7 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1619-23,  p.  39.  -  //'.,  p.  45. 

'  /*.,  p.  44.  *  /^>p.  2?> 

5  Ib.y  p.  51,  Chamberlain  to  Carleton.  6  ///•.,  p.  54. 

7  Green's   "  Lives  of  the   Eng.    Princesses,"  vol.  v.   p.   310  ;   and   Nichols, 
vol.  iii.  p.  569. 

E 


66  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

This  matter  chiefly  concerns  my  biography  in  its  relation 
to  Laud  and  his  enemy,  Abbott ;  for,  as  will  be  seen  by-and- 
bye,  while  Abbott  was  dead  against  the  Spanish  alliance, 
Laud  favoured  it. 

The  year  after  Frederick  and  Elizabeth  had  been  crowned 
King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia,  they  were  driven  out  of  that 
country.  On  hearing  the  news,  King  James  sent  his 
daughter  ,£20,000,  asked  subsidies  for  his  son-in-law's 
restoration  from  Parliament,  and  talked  about  shedding  his 
blood  to  that  end,  if  necessary  ;  but  when  he  heard  that  his 
dethroned  daughter  and  her  dethroned  husband  intended  to 
pay  him  a  visit  in  England,  he  sent  instructions  to  his  Am 
bassador  to  hint  to  them  his  "  mislike  of  such  a  course,"  and 
that  nothing  could  possibly  "  be  more  displeasing  unto  "  him 
than  to  receive  them  as  guests. 

While  her  royal  father  was  showing  such  scant  affection, 
the  ex-Queen  of  Bohemia  left  open  in  her  reception-room, 
with  the  obvious  intention  that  it  should  be  read,  a  letter 
which  she  had  received  from  Abbott,  after  writing  to  ask  his 
advice  as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  crown  of  Bohemia  ;  in  this 
epistle,  the  archbishop  not  only  replied  in  the  affirmative, 
but  advised  that,  even  if  King  James  refused  his  consent,  it 
should  be  accepted,  as  he  would  be  certain  to  support  her 
when  once  the  deed  was  done.1  Abbott  could  scarcely  have 
acted  in  a  more  dangerous  manner  than  to  write  such  a  letter, 
for,  if  discovered,  it  would  bring  him  into  terrible  disrepute 
with  his  king.  On  the  other  hand,  Abbott's  loss  of  favour 
proportionately  exalted  his  rival,  Laud,  and  the  opposition 
to  James's  policy  both  in  Bohemia  and  Spain  by  Abbott, 
and  the  encouragement  of  it  by  Laud,  probably  went  far 
towards  making  the  good  fortune  of  the  latter. 

If  Laud  praised  the  king  and  all  his  doings,  not  so  all 
other  divines.  Chamberlain  writes  that  the  king  "has 
committed  Shingleton,  of  Oxford,  for  declaiming  against  his 
court,  and  ridiculing  his  Latinities,  in  a  sermon  at  Paul's 
Cross." 

In  1621,  we  find  the  following  entry  in  Laud's  Diary: — "  I 

1  Goodman's  "Court  of  James  I.,"  vol.  i.  p.  236. 


"•]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  67 

was  installed  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  Januar.  22,  1620, 
comp.  Angl.,  having  had  the  Advowson  of  it  Ten  Years  the 
November  before." 

Laud  was  now  gradually  attaining  an  advantage  which 
was  to  have  an  immense  influence  on  his  career — his  in 
timacy  with  Buckingham.  At  this  time  that  royal  favourite, 
although  not  yet  duke,  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  power,  so  far 
as  the  reign  of  James  I.  was  concerned,  for,  in  the  opinion  of 
some  people,  including  Clarendon,  he  fell  somewhat  in  the 
estimation  of  that  monarch  after  his  expedition  to  Spain. 

No  more  important  friendship  than  that  of  Buckingham 
could  have  been  contracted  at  the  time  of  which  I  am 
writing.  His  power  was  enormous  ;  his  own  ascent  had 
been  "  so  quick,  that  it  seem'd  rather  a  Flight  than  a  growth, 
and  he  was  such  a  Darling  of  Fortune,  that  he  was  at  the 
Top,  before  he  was  well  seen  at  the  Bottom  ;  "  x  and  his  power 
was  equalled  by  his  zeal  in  furthering  the  interests  of  his 
friends  ;  "His  Kindness,  and  Affection  to  his  Friends  was  so 
vehement,"  says  Clarendon,  "  that  they  were  as  so  many 
marriages  for  better  and  worse,  and  so  many  leagues 
offensive  and  defensive  ;  as  if  he  thought  himself  obliged 
to  love  all  his  Friends,  and  to  make  war  upon  all  they 
were  angry  with,  let  the  cause  be  what  it  would."  J 

It  was  not  until  a  year  after  the  time  with  which  I  am 
now  dealing  (1620-21),  that  Laud's  great  intimacy  with 
Buckingham  was  thoroughly  established,  and  it  is  difficult 
to  ascertain  exactly  when  their  warm  friendship  first  began. 
There  is  evidence,  however,  that  in  1620  and  1621  they  were 
already  on  at  least  good  terms. 

Early  in  June  1621,  King  James  hinted  to  Laud  that  he 
intended  to  bring  him  to  the  front  when  opportunity  should 
offer.  We  find  a  memorandum  in  Laud's  Diary: — "The 
King's  Gracious  Speech  to  me,  June  3,  1621,  concerning  my 
long  Service.  He  was  pleased  to  say :  He  had  given  me 
nothing  but  Gloucester,  which  he  well  knew  was  a  Shell 
without  a  Kernel."  There  were  clearly  better  things  coming  ! 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  Clarendon,  book  i.  p.  34.  2  /£.,  pp.  31,  32. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

I  NOW  come  to  a  most  important  event  in  the  history  of 
Laud — his  elevation  to  the  Episcopal  bench.  It  is  said  to 
have  come  about  in  a  curious  manner.  As  will  be  seen, 
by-and-bye,  I  say  "  said  "  advisedly. 

Dr  Williams,  the  Lord  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal,  was  also 
Dean  of  Westminster.  He  had  been  nominated  for  the 
Bishopric  of  Lincoln,  and  he  had  good  grounds  for  believing 
that  if  he  should  resign  his  deanery,  it  would  be  given  to 
Laud.  Now  to  Laud  and  his  "  views "  he  had  an  intense 
dislike,  and  he  was  most  anxious  that  such  a  man  should 
not  be  appointed  to  so  influential  a  post  as  the  Deanery 
of  Westminster.  Nevertheless,  he  could  not  conceal  from 
himself  the  fact  that  the  king  was  determined  to  push  him 
on,  and  the  best  course  appeared  to  be  to  induce  His 
Majesty  to  give  him  high  preferment  in  some  place  where 
he  could  do  as  little  harm  as  possible.  When,  therefore,  the 
Bishopric  of  St  David's  fell  vacant  a  few  weeks  after  the 
king  had  apologised  to  Laud  for  not  having  yet  presented 
him  to  anything  better  than  the  Deanery  of  Gloucester,  Dr 
Williams  went  to  King  James  in  order  to  induce  him  to 
dispose  of  Laud,  once  for  all,  by  sending  him  to  that  out-of- 
the-way  diocese.  At  any  rate,  this  is  one  view  of  Williams' 
conduct. 

According  to  Bishop  Hacket's  account  of  their  interview,1 
the  king  was  by  no  means  disposed  to  go  to  the  length  of 
making  Laud  a  bishop,  although,  judging  from  his  late  pro 
fessions  of  good  intentions,  as  reported  by  Laud  himself,  one 
feels  inclined  to  suppose  that  Hacket's  account  of  the  con 
versation  between  King  James  and  Dr  Williams  must  be 
exaggerated,  to  say  the  least  of  it ;  nor  is  it  improbable  that 

1  I  quote  from  Mr  Benson,  pages  41  and  following. 
68 


Sca48l621]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  69 

the  exaggeration,  if  any,  was  originated  by  Dr  Williams, 
who  was  given  to  fibbing,1  in  recounting  the  incident.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  possible  that  the  king  may  have  had 
his  own  reasons  for  pretending  to  be  unwilling  to  advance 
Laud  too  hurriedly. 

"<2Well/  said  the  king,  'I  perceive  whose  attorney  you 
are  ;  Stenny '  "  (Buckingham)  " '  hath  set  you  on.'  "  "  '  Was 
there  not  a  certain  lady  who  forsook  her  husband,  and 
married  a  Lord  ihat  was  her  paramour  ?  Who  knit  that 
knot  ?  Shall  I  make  a  man  a  Prelate,  one  of  the  angels 
of  my  Church,  who  hath  a  flagrant  crime  upon  him  ? ' ' 

" '  Sir,'  said  Williams,  '  you  are  a  good  master  ;  but  who 
will  dare  serve  you  if  you  will  not  pardon  one  fault,  though 
of  a  scandalous  size,  to  him  who  is  heartily  penitent  ?  I 
pawn  my  faith  to  you  that  he  is  heartily  penitent ;  and  there 
is  no  other  blot  that  hath  sullied  his  good  name.' " 

"  '  You  press  well,"  replied  the  king,  '  and  I  hear  you  with 
patience.  Neither  will  I  revive  a  trespass  which  repentance 
hath  mortified  and  buried.  And  because  I  see  that  I  shall 
not  be  rid  of  you,  unless  I  tell  you  my  unpublished  cogita 
tions,  the  plain  trutJi  is,  I  keep  Laud  back  from  all  place  of 
rule  and  authority  because  I  find  he  JiatJi  a  restless  spirit  and 
cannot  see  when  matters  are  well,  but  loves  to  toss  and  change, 
and  to  bring  things  to  a  pitch  of  reformation  floating  in  his 
own  brain,  which  may  endanger  the  steadfastness  of  that 
which,  God  be  praised,  is  at  a  good  pass.  I  speak  not  at 
random  :  he  hath  made  himself  known  to  me  to  be  such  an 
one.  For  when,  three  years  past,  I  had  obtained  of  the 
Assembly  of  Perth  to  consent  to  five  articles  of  order  and 
decency  in  a  correspondence  with  this  Church  of  England, 
I  gave  them  promise  that  I  would  try  their  obedience  no 
further  anent  ecclesiastical  affairs.  Yet  this  man  hath  pressed 
me  to  invite  them  to  a  nearer  conjunction  with  the  Liturgy 
and  Canons  of  this  nation  ;  but  I  sent  him  back  again,  with 

1  Clarendon's  "Hist,  of  the  Keb.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  345. 

a  I  quote  chiefly  from  Mr  Benson's  very  ably  modernised  rendering  of  I  Jacket's 
account  in  "  Scrinia  Reserata,"  except  where  I  specially  mention  that  I  refer  to 
the  original. 


70  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Circai6«. 

the  frivolous  draft  that  he  had  drawn.  And  now,  your  im 
portunity  hath  compelled  me  to  shrive  myself  thus  unto  you, 
I  think  you  are  at  your  furthest,  and  have  no  more  to  say  for 
your  client.' " 

" '  May  it  please  you,  sir,'  answered  Williams,  c  I  will  speak 
but  this  once.  You  have  convicted  your  chaplain  of  an 
attempt  very  audacious  and  very  unbecoming.  My  judg 
ment  goes  quite  against  his :  yet  I  submit  this  to  your 
sacred  judgment,  that  Dr  Laud  is  of  a  great  and  tractable 
wit.  He  did  not  well  see  how  he  came  into  his  error ;  but 
he  will  presently  see  the  way  to  come  out  of  it.  Some 
diseases,  which  are  very  acute,  are  quickly  cured.'  " 

" '  And  if/  said  the  king,  '  there  is  no  whoe '  (way)  '  but 
you  must  carry  it,  then  take  him  with  you,  but,  by  my  soul, 
you  will  repent  it.' "  And  so,  the  narrative  informs  us,  he 
"  went  away  in  anger,  using  other  words  of  fierce  import,  too 
tart  to  be  repeated." 

King  James's  opinion  of  Laud,  as  here  quoted,  has  been 
generally  accepted  as  genuine ;  as  to  Williams's  share  in  the 
conversation,  historians  differ,  some  going  so  far  as  to  doubt 
whether  he  recommended  Laud  for  the  Bishopric  of  St 
David's  at  all. 

The  doubts  as  to  the  veracity  of  the  account  of  the 
conversation  between  Williams  and  the  king  are  chiefly 
based  upon  a  sentence  in  Clarendon,1  in  which  he  speaks 
thus  of  the  former : — "  He  had  a  faculty  of  making  relations 
of  things  done  in  his  own  Presence,  and  discourses  made  to 
himself,  or  in  his  own  hearing,  with  all  the  circumstances  of 
answers,  and  replies,  and  upon  Arguments  of  great  moment ; 
all  which,  upon  Examination,  were  still  found  to  have  nothing 
in  them  that  was  Real,  but  to  be  the  pure  effect  of  his  own 
Invention." 

And  now,  I  will  venture,  with  all  humility,  to  give  my  own 
opinion  on  the  question.  It  is  that  Williams  neither  re 
commended  Laud  to  the  king  for  the  Bishopric  of  St 
David's,  out  of  any  goodwill  towards  him,  nor  to  keep  for 
himself  the  Deanery  of  Westminster,  but  solely  in  order  to 
]  "Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  345. 


JEL  48.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  71 

curry  favour  with  Buckingham,  who  had  urged  him  to  do  it. 
Buckingham  wanted  a  rochet  for  his  friend  Laud,  and,  as  I 
shall  show,  had  found  himself  foiled  in  his  own  attempts  to 
persuade  James  to  bestow  one,  by  the  ill-offices  of  Arch 
bishop  Abbott  ;  he  determined,  therefore,  to  endeavour 
to  turn  the  scale  in  favour  of  his  own  nominee  by  induc 
ing  a  divine  to  recommend  Laud,  as  if  he  were  doing  so 
spontaneously. 

Here  is  Bishop  Racket's  account,  in  his  Life  of  Wil 
liams  : —  *  Laud,  he  says,  "  a  Learned  Man,  and  a  Lover  of 
Learning,"  "had  fasten'd  on  the  Lord  Marquess  to  be  his 
Mediator,  whom  he  had  made  sure  by  great  Observances. 
But  the  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterbury  had  so  opposed  him,  and 
represented  him  with  suspicion  (in  my  judgment  improbably 
grounded)  of  Unsoundness  in  Religion,  that  the  Lord  Marquess 
was  at  a  stand,  and  could  not  get  the  Royal  Assent  to  that 
Promotion.  His  Lordship,  as  his  Intimates  know,  was  not 
wont  to  let  a  Suit  fall,  which  he  had  undertaken  ;  in  this  he 
was  the  stiffer,  because  the  Arch-Bishop's  Contest  in  the  King's 
Presence  was  sour  and  supercilious.  Therefore  he  resolved 
to  play  his  Game  in  another  hand  ;  and  conjures  the  Lord 
Keeper  to  commend  Dr  Laud  strenuously  and  importunately 
to  the  King's  good  Opinion,  to  fear  no  Offence,  neither  to 
desist  for  a  little  Storm.  Accordingly  he  watch'd  when  the 
King's  Affections  were  most  still  and  pacificous  ;  and  be 
sought  his  Majesty  to  think  considerately  of  his  Chaplain  the 
Doctor,  who  deserved  well  when  he  was  a  young  Man  in  his 
Zeal  against  the  Millenary  Petition  !  And  for  his  Incorruption 
in  Religion,  let  his  Sermons  plead  for  him  in  the  Royal 
Hearing,  of  which  no  Man  could  judge  better  than  so  great 
a  Scolar  as  His  Majesty." 

Then  followed  the  conversation  given  above,  in  the  very 
first  sentence  of  which,  it  will  be  remembered,  James  was 
sharp  enough  to  tell  Williams  he  was  quite  sure  that  Bucking 
ham  had  put  him  on  to  plead  Laud's  cause. 

The  remarks  made  by  Bishop  Hacket,  when  he  has  ended 
his  account  of  the  conversation,  may  be  worth  giving.  "  So 

1  "  Scrinia  Reserata,"  p.  63. 


72  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [circai62i. 

the  Lord  Keeper  procured  to  Dr  Laud  his  first  Rochet,  and 
retained  him  in  his  Prebend  of  Westminster,  a  Kindness  which 
then  he  mightily  valued  ;  and  gave  him  about  a  year  after 
a  Living  of  about  £i2Oper  annum  in  the  Diocese  of  St  David's 
to  help  his  Revenue :  Which  being  unsought,  and  brought  to 
him  at  Durham-House  by  Mr  William  Winn,  his  expression 
was,  '  Mr  Winn,  my  Life  will  be  too  short  to  requite  your 
Lord's  Goodness.'  But  how  those  scores  were  paid,  is 
known  at  home  and  abroad." 

Laud's  own  account  of  his  appointment  is  to  be  found  in 
his  Diary  : — "  June  29.  His  Majesty  gave  me  the  Grant  of 
the  Bishoprick  of  St  David's,  being  St  Peter's  day.  The 
general  expectation  in  Court  was,  that  I  should  then  have 
been  made  Dean  of  Westminster,  and  not  Bishop  of  St 
David's."  This  bears  out  the  possibility  of  Williams's  desire 
to  prevent  his  obtaining  it  by  getting  him  appointed  to  St 
David's.  Laud  then  goes  on  to  say  : — "  The  King  gave  me 
leave  to  hold  the  Presidentship  of  St  John  Baptist's  Colledge 
in  Oxon,  in  my  Commendam  with  the  Bishoprick  of  St 
Davids :  [But  by  Reason  of  the  strictness  of  that  Statute, 
which  I  will  not  violate,  nor  my  Oath  to  it,  under  any  colour, 
I  am  resolved  before  my  Consecration  to  leave  it.]"  Accord 
ingly,  we  find  an  entry  in  the  Diary  : — "  Octob.  10.  I  was  chosen 
Bishop  of  St  Davids,  Octob.  10, 162 1.  I  resigned  the  President 
ship  of  St  Johns  in  Oxford,  Novemb.  17,  1621."  Considering 
the  pluralities  of  those  days,  to  his  credit  be  it  spoken. 

It  was  otherwise  with  Dr  Williams.  He  need  not  have 
been  so  afraid  that  Laud  would  get  his  deanery  of  West 
minster.  In  August  there  was  issued  a  "  Grant  to  John 
Williams,  Dean  of  Westminster,  Bp.  Elect  of  Lincoln,  and 
Keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  of  licence  to  retain  his  Deanery  in 
commendam,  because  the  usual  residence  of  the  Chancellor 
being  otherwise  employed,  he  has  no  other  residence  near  the 
Court ;  also  of  dispensation  from  personal  attention  to  the 
duties  of  the  Bishopric  and  Deanery,  as  long  as  he  holds  the 
Great  Seal,  on  condition  of  his  taking  care  that  they  be  not 
neglected." *  The  contrast  between  the  conduct  of  Williams 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1619-23,    p.  283. 


^•48.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  73 

and  my  hero  in  these  cases  is  remarkable,  but  requires  no 
comment. 

A  later  memorandum  in  Laud's  Diary  runs  : — "  I  was 
consecrated  Bishop  of  St  Davids,  Novemb.  18,  1621,  at 
London-House  Chappel,  by  the  Reverend  Fathers,  the  Lords 
Bishops  of  London,  Worcester,  Chichester,  Elye,  Landaffe, 
Oxon.  The  Arch-Bishop  being  thought  Irregular  for  casual 
Homicide."1 

As  this  case  of  "casual  homicide"  to  a  considerable  extent 
crippled  the  power  of  one  of  Laud's  greatest  enemies,  it 
merits  some  notice  here.  The  fact  is  briefly  recorded  in  a 
letter  from  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  July  28,  1621.-  "The 
Archp.  of  Canterbury  going  into  Hampshire  to  conse 
crate  a  chapel  for  Lord  Zouch,  has  had  the  misfortune  to 
kill  his  keeper,  when  shooting  at  a  deer."  And,  again, 
on  August  4,  "  The  Archp.  of  Canterbury,  immediately  on 
his  misfortune,  sent  to  inform  the  King,  who  sent  him  a 
gracious  answer,  that  such  an  accident  might  happen  to  any 
one.  The  verdict  on  the  coroner's  inquest  was,  that  [the 
Keeper  died]  'per  infortunium  suae  propriae  culpae."'  On 
August  5th,  the  Archbishop  himself  wrote  to  Lord  Zouch,4 
in  whose  park  the  accident  took  place : — "  thanks  for  his 
entertainment  at  Bramsell.  His  counsel  do  not  consider  the 
verdict  given  on  the  coroner's  inquest  to  be  legally  drawn  up  ; 
requests  him  to  resummon  the  coroner  and  jury  to  supply  all 
defects,  the  credit  of  his  profession  being  involved,  and  the 
enemies  of  the  gospel  too  ready  to  slander  him."  He  wrote 
to  him  again,  on  the  29th,  that  r>  his  "  unhappy  accident  has 
been  a  bitter  potion,  on  account  of  his  conflict  in  his 
conscience,  for  what  sin  he  is  permitted  to  be  the  talk  of 
men,  to  the  rejoicing  of  the  Papist  and  insulting  the  Puritan." 
About  a  week  later,  Locke  wrote  to  Carleton6  that  the 
"  Archbishop  has  kept  secluded  ever  since  the  accident  "  ;  but 
three  days  afterwards  that  "  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
has  attended  the  King  to  the  sermon,  for  the  first  time  since 
the  accident  "  ;  and  in  another  four  days  that  "  Archbishop 

1  Diary,  p.  4.  -  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1619-23,  p.  279.  3  /<$.,  p.  281. 

4  /<&.,  same  page.         5/£.,  p.  285.  B  St.,  p.  287. 


74  Life  of  A rchbishop  L a ud.  t  circa  1621. 

Abbot  has  been  again  with  the  King,  and  it  is  hoped  all  will 
now  go  well  with  him." 

From  the  time  of  the  announcement  of  the  accident  itself, 
King  James  had  taken  a  very  kindly  and  sympathetic  view 
of  it.  "  His  Majesty,"  says  Bishop  Hacket,1  "  who  had  the 
Bowels  of  a  Lamb,  censured  the  Mischance  with  these  words 
of  melting  Clemency,  That  an  Angel  might  have  miscarried 
in  that  sort." 

Early  in  the  following  month  (October)  a  commission 
was  given  by  the  "  King 2  to  the  Lord  Keeper,  Bps.  of  London, 
Winchester,  and  Rochester,  and  others.  To  inquire  into  the 
nature  of  the  accidental  killing  of  the  keeper  in  Bramsell 
Park,  by  Geo.  Abbot,  Archp.  of  Canterbury,  whether  it 
amounts  to  an  irregularity  or  otherwise,  in  a  person  of  his 
rank  in  the  church,  and  to  consider  the  scandal  that  may 
have  arisen  thereon." 

On  one  side  it  was  argued  that  an  archbishop  had  no 
right  to  be  hunting  at  all,  and  that  his  offence  consequently 
was  murder,  in  the  same  manner  that  a  poacher  aiming  at  a 
stag,  to  which  he  had  no  right,  and  accidentally  killing  a 
keeper,  would  have  technically  committed  that  crime.  The 
great  legal  authority,  Coke,  thought  otherwise.  An  old 
book  on  the  law  relating  to  game  says  : — "  Every  Lord  of 
Parliament,  Spiritual  or  Temporal,  sent  for  by  the  King,  may 
in  coming  and  returning  kill  a  Deer  or  two  in  the  Kings 
Forest,  Chase,  or  Park,  through  which  he  passeth."  "And 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  treating  of  this  Law  observes,  That  although 
Spiritual  Persons  are  prohibited  by  the  Canon  Law  to  hunt 
Game ;  yet  by  the  Common  Law  of  the  Land  for  their 
Recreation,  and  to  make  them  fitter  for  the  Performance  of 
their  Office,  they  may  use  the  Diversion  and  Exercise  of 
Hunting."3  In  addition  to  this,  "he  dragged  to  light  an 
immemorial  statute  that  a  bishop's  morte  of  hounds  was  to 
escheat  to  the  king  on  his  decease,  not  to  the  natural  heirs. 
Ergo,  argued  Coke,  he  may  hunt  with  them  while  he  is  alive, 
if  they  are  to  pass  to  some  one  else  on  his  death."  4 

1  "  Scrinia  Reserata,"  p.  65.  '2  Ib.,  p.  295. 

3  "  The  Game  Law,"  pub.  1727,  p.  3.  4  Benson,  p.  46. 


Mt.  48.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  75 

On  November  loth  Chamberlain  wrote  to  Carleton  that 
"  the  Commissioners  on  the  Archp.  of  Canterbury's  case 
were  equally  divided,  but  the  Bp.  of  Winchester,  siding 
with  the  four  lawyers  so  forcibly  against  the  other  five 
Bishops,  turned  the  scale  in  his  Grace's  favour.  The  King 
absolved  him  ;  the  new  Bishops "  (one  of  whom  would  be 
Laud)  "  are  so  unwilling  to  receive  consecration  from  his 
hand,  that  he  has  commissioned  three  other  Bishops  to  con 
secrate  for  him."  l 

In  the  same  month  we  find  a  "  Commission  to  the  Bp. 
of  Lincoln,  Lord  Keeper,  the  Bps.  of  London,  Winchester, 
Norwich,  Ely,  Bath  and  Wells,  and  Chichester,  to  grant  a 
dispensation  to  the  Archp.  of  Canterbury,  for  the  death 
of  Peter  Hawkins,  casually  slain  by  him."2 

In  spite  of  his  dispensation,  Abbott's  power  was  on  the 
wane  ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  his  disgrace  was  so  much  owing 
to  his  accidental  homicide,  as  his  opposition  to  the  policy 
of  King  James,  especially  in  the  matter  of  the  Spanish  match 
and  the  crown  of  Bohemia,  in  both  of  which  policies  Laud 
supported  the  king.  Part  of  Abbott's  powers  may  have  been 
put  in  commission;  yet  we  find  him  performing  many  clerical 
and  even  episcopal  acts ;  such  as  preaching  before  the  king, 
and  at  Queen  Anne's  funeral,  banishing  Jesuits,  and  granting 
a  dispensation  to  Sir  Edward  Conway,  "  for  himself,  his  wife, 
and  two  others  whom  he  may  choose,  to  eat  flesh  at  prohibited 
times,  as  fish  does  not  agree  with  his  health,  on  condition  of 
his  doing  it  privately,  to  avoid  scandal,  and  paying  135.  4d. 
a  year  to  the  poor  of  his  parish  ;  " 3  yet  he  remained  out  of 
favour  at  court,  and  without  much  influence,  for  the  rest  of 
his  life.  Nevertheless,  he  still  retained  the  power  of  making 
himself  disagreeable,  as  we  shall  see  by-and-bye. 

The  first  episcopal  act  of  the  new  Bishop  of  St  David's 
was  a  thankless  one — the  sending  to  his  diocese  of  his  own 
and  the  archbishop's  letters  demanding,  at  the  king's  order, 
a  contribution  from  the  clergy  towards  the  expenses  of  the 
war  in  the  Palatinate.  He  did  not  visit  his  diocese  until 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1619-23,  p.  308.  2  /£.,  p.  311- 

3  /£.,  1623-5,  p.  542. 


76  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

seven  or  eight  months  after  he  had  been  made  its  bishop. 
In  the  meanwhile,  we  read  in  his  Diary  of  his  preaching 
before  the  king  and  going  to  an  entertainment  given  by 
Count  Swartzenbergh.  Five  months  after  he  had  become  a 
bishop,  "  Being  the  Tuesday  in  Easter  week,  the  King  sent 
for  me,  and  set  me  into  a  course  about  the  Countess  of 
Buckingham,  who  about  that  time  was  wavering  in  point  of 
religion." l 

Mr  Edward  Cardwell,  in  his  preface  to  the  1839  edition 
of  Laud's  Correspondence  with  Fisher  (the  edition  to  which  I 
refer  throughout),  after  stating  that  although  the  king  had 
denounced  such  crimes  as  exercising  the  office  of  a  priest 
and  "seducing  his  subjects  from  the  religion  established," 
his  "real  intentions  were  interpreted  more  from  his  acts  of 
forbearance  than  from  his  threats  of  punishment,"  says 2 : — 
"Among  the  emissaries  whom  the  Romanists  employed  at 
this  time  in  England,  one  of  the  most  active  and  intelligent 
was  a  Jesuit  of  the  name  of  Piersey,  who  has  been  better 
known  under  the  assumed  appellation  of  Fisher.  He  had 
obtained  admission  to  the  countess,  mother  of  Villiers,  who 
was  afterwards  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  had  made  some 
progress  in  converting  her  to  the  Romish  faith,  in  the  hope 
that  through  the  influence  of  her  son,  she  might  be  able  to 
obtain  further  indulgences  from  the  court  in  favour  of  the 
Roman  Catholics." 

A  rather  differently  worded  account  of  the  matter  is  given 
in  an  old  manuscript  at  Stonyhurst 3 : — "  The  Viscount  de 
Purbeck,  brother  of  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  having  been 
converted  to  the  Catholic  faith,  and  reconciled  to  Holy 
Church,  by  Father  John  Perseus,  S.J.,  betook  himself  to 
the  Countess  his  mother,  and  gave  her  so  good  an  account 
of  the  said  Father,  and  of  the  consolation  he  had  received  of 
him,  that  she  greatly  desired  to  speak  to  him,  and  sending 
him  to  call  the  Father,  she  heard  him  discourse  fully  of  the 
Catholic  faith,  asking  of  him  also  many  doubts,  and  in  the 
end  she  rested  so  entirely  satisfied,"  &c. 

She  asked  Fisher,  as  we  will  call  Father  John  Percy,  since 

1  Diary,  p.  5.  2  P.  v.  3  Stoneyhurst  MS.,  Anglia.,  vol.  vii. 


^y.624]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  77 

that  was  the  alias  by  which  he  was  best  known — "  F.  Fisher, 
a  notorious  Jesuite"1 — to  write  out  for  her  the  substance  of 
this  conversation,  and,  on  receiving  it,  she  showed  it  to  the 
king,  who  determined  to  have  it  refuted  in  her  presence  by  an 
Anglican  theologian,  and  for  this  purpose  summoned  a  Dr 
White  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle),  as  well  as  the  Jesuit 
himself  to  dispute  the  matter  before  his  own  royal  presence 
and  that  of  the  Countess.  White  had  Father  Fisher's 
document  to  study  for  ten  days  before  the  conference  took 
place.  "  The  minister,"  said  Father  Fisher,  "  only  said  a  few 
words,  the  King  did  nearly  all  the  speaking," 2  and,  when  it 
was  over,  "  the  Countess  complained  that  nothing  had  been 
said  respecting  the  claim  which  the  Romanists  make  to  a 
visible  and  infallible  church."  3  A  further  controversy  being, 
therefore,  necessary,  "  it  was  determined  that  a  third  confer 
ence  should  be  held,  and  Dr  Laud,  then  Bishop  of  St  David's, 
who  was  distinguished  for  his  theological  learning,  and  had 
recently  given  the  king  evidence  of  his  great  skill  in  com 
position,  was  appointed  to  conduct  the  argument  on  the  side 
of  protestantism." 4 

Laud's  own  account  of  this  controversy  was  not  published 
until  about  two  or  three  years  later,  in  reply  to  one  that  had 
been  written  by,  or  was  at  least  attributed  to,  Fisher,  under 
the  initials  "  A.  C.  "  ;  but  it  will  be  more  convenient  to  us 
to  dispose  of  the  subject  altogether,  now  that  we  have 
embarked  upon  it. 

Of  Laud's  Relation  of  the  Conference,  Dean  Hook  writes  : 
— "  He  would  be  a  bold  man  who  at  the  present  time  should 
engage  in  doctrinal  controversy  with  Rome  without  first 
perusing  a  work  which  has  long  occupied  the  first  place  in 
the  theological  literature  of  England." 5  Another  Anglican, 
Mr  Benson,  the  son  of  no  less  a  person  than  the  present 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  takes  a  very  different  view  of 
this  work.  He  writes  of  it  in  one  place  as  "  a  nearly  unread- 

1  Gee's  "  List  of  Romish  Priests  and  Jesuits  about  London." 

-  "Records  of  the  Eng.  Province  S.J."  series  I,  p.  531. 

3  Laud's  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Preface,  p.  vi.  4  Ib. 

5  Hook's  "  Lives  of  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,"  vol.  xi.  pp.  55,  56. 


78  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [i™xx.6a4' 

able  folio," l  and  in  another  as  "  justly  forgotten." 2  Where 
two  good  Anglicans  differ  so  greatly,  it  becomes  an  outsider 
to  stand  respectfully  silent ;  but  it  may  be  permitted  to  me 
to  say  that  if  the  book  is  wordy  and  heavy,  and  that  if  the 
reader  may  smile  when  the  author  says  that  he  leaves  "  all 
gall  out  of  his  ink,"  it  contains  here  and  there  some  spirited, 
if  not  exactly  fine,  passages. 

I  will  quote  part  of  a  panegyric  on  the  Bible,  as  an 
instance  in  point : — "  See  the  riches  of  natural  knowledge 
which  are  stored  up  there,  as  well  as  supernatural :  consider 
how  things  quite  above  reason  consent  with  things  reason 
able  :  weigh  it  well,  what  majesty  lies  there  hid  under 
humility  !  what  depth  there  is,  with  a  perspicuity  unimi- 
table  !  what  delight  it  works  in  the  soul  that  is  devoutly 
exercised  in  it !  how  the  sublimest  wits  find  in  it  enough  to 
amaze  them,  while  the  simplest  want  not  enough  to  direct 
them."  3  And  then  he  proceeds  to  draw  an  entirely  false 
conclusion  from  all  this,  but  that  is  a  matter  on  which  I  do 
not  intend  to  enter. 

Nor  have  I  either  the  space  or  the  inclination  to  enter  here 
upon  the  question  of  the  theological  merits  of  either  side  in 
this  controversy  ;  but  I  will  venture  to  express  my  surprise 
that  none  of  the  biographies  of  Laud  that  I  have  read  take 
any  notice  of  an  ably  written  reply  which  was  published  in 
Paris,  some  thirty-six  years  after  the  actual  controversy  took 
place.  It  is  called  "  Labyrinthus  Cantvariensis  or  Doctor 
Lauds  Labyrinth.  Beeing  an  answer  to  the  Late  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbvries  Relation  of  a  conference  between 
Himselfe  and  Mr  Fisher,  &c.  Wherein  the  true  grounds  of 
the  Roman  Catholiqve  Religion  are  asserted,  the  principall 
Controuersies  betwixt  Catholiques  and  Protestants  thoroughly 
examined,  and  the  Bishops  Meandrick  windings  throughout 
his  whole  vvorke  layd  open  to  publique  view.  By  T.  C." 

It  seems  that  the  book  had  been  written  some  years  before 
it  appeared  ;  but  at  that  particular  time,  the  Anglican  Church 
was  "  in  so  bleeding  a  condition,  that  it  might  have  been 

1  Benson,  p.  95.  2  7#.,  p.  200. 

3  Laud's  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  1839,  p.  93. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  79 

thought  unhandsome  to  impugne  it."  l  The  author  found 
"in  perusall  of  the  Bishop's  book,"  "many  affected  windings 
and  artificiall  meanders."  2 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  Laud  apparently  held  much  the 
same  opinion  of  Fisher's  book.  "  A.  C,  having,  as  it  seems, 
little  new  matter,  is  at  the  same  again,  and  over  and  over 
it  must  go  ; "  and  presently  he  says  : — "  To  all  which  I  have 
abundantly  answered  before.  Marry  then  he  infers,  &c." 
And  in  another  place: — "A.  C.  may  ask  everlastingly,  if 
he  will  ask  the  same  over  and  over  again.  For,  I  pray, 
wherein  doth  this  differ  from  his  first  question,  &c.  ?  "  And 
yet  again  : — "  Good  God  !  whither  will  not  a  strong  bias 
carry  even  a  learned  judgment !  " 

On  the  opposite  side,  the  reply  accuses  Laud  of  "  citing  of 
nominatives  without  verbs,"  and  thus  evading  the  question 
"  by  a  nimble  turn." 

Then  Laud  accuses  his  opponent  of  misquotation  : — "  So 
A.  C.  out  of  St  Bernard.  But  St  Bernard  not  so.  For  these 
last  words,  '  of  all  the  Christian  churches  in  the  world,'  are 
not  in  St  Bernard." 

A  similar  charge  is  brought  against  Laud  by  the  author 
of  the  Labyrinth,  as  may  be  seen  by  looking  at  even  the 
headings  of  the  chapters,  such  as  : — "  Bellarmine  miscited  ;  " 
"  Vincentius  Liringensis  falsified  thrice  at  least ;  "  *'  Occham, 
St  Augustin,  Canus,  Almain  and  Gerson,  either  miscited,  or 
their  sense  perverted  by  the  Bishop;"  "St  Inenaeus  not  rightly 
translated  by  the  Bishop  ;  "  "  St  Epiphanius  miscited  and 
mistaken  by  the  Bishop."  : 

Per  contra,  Laud  accuses  Fisher  of  hoping  "his  cunning 
malice  would  not  be  discovered."4  "  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
cunning,"  he  says,  "  and  as  much  malice  in  this  passage,  but 
I  shall  easily  pluck  the  sting  out  of  this  wasp."5  The  author 
of  the  Labyrinth  again  appears  to  think  Laud  not  altogether 
free  from  malice  when  he  says  that  he  makes  "  a  pretty 
sleight  to  blast  the  credit  of  his  adversary." 

1  Lab.  Cant.,  Pref.  -  lb. 

3  "Laud's  Lab.,"  several  places.  4  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  p.  316. 

5  /£.,  p.  p.  314. 


8o  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  xvmhcent. 

Laud  constantly  charges  Fisher  with  a  false,  or  at  least  an 
inaccurate,  account  of  the  actual  verbal  controversy  which 
took  place  between  them,  and,  towards  the  end  of  his  book, 
he  says,  in  well-feigned  despair: — "What!  not  one  answer 
perfectly  related  !  "  l 

The  writer  of  the  Labyrinth  uses  very  similar  language 
about  Laud's  work.  "  Now  in  that  whole  place  which  I 
have  perused  very  diligently,  there  are  neither  those  cited 
words,  nor  anything  like  them.  What  is  there  then  ?  Marry, 
the  quite  contrary."  5 

I  merely  give  these  few  quotations  in  order  to  show  that 
if  Laud's  accusations  of  inaccuracy  and  cunning  against 
Fisher  are  to  be  entertained,  there  is  also  another  side  to  the 
question.  To  judge  of  the  merits  of  the  controversy  itself, 
A  Relation  of  the  Conference  between  William  Laud  and  Mr 
Fisher  the  Jesuit  and  Lauds  Labyrinth  should  be  read 
together. 

1  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford,  p.  236.  2  "  Laud's  Lab.,"  p.  78. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

I  NOW  come  to  one  of  the  recognised  landmarks  in  the  life 
of  Laud, — his  friendship  with  Buckingham.  In  most  respects, 
few  men  could  have  been  more  different.  Laud,  a  rather 
plain,  red-faced,  clumsy-gaited  little  man,  with  a  hard,  harsh 
voice,  blurting  out  his  opinions  with  little  respect  of  persons, 
was  a  strong  contrast  to  the  handsome,  graceful,  courteous 
and  diplomatic  Buckingham.  The  former,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  failings,  was  at  least  a  celibate,  against  whose 
purity  of  life  no  whisper  of  scandal  is  known  to  have  been 
ever  raised  ;  the  latter  was  foul-tongued,  a  faithless  husband, 
and  an  abandoned  profligate.  Laud  was  plain  and  modest 
in  his  attire,  even  for  a  clergyman  ;  as  to  Buckingham,  "  it 
was  common  with  him  at  any  ordinary  dancing  to  have  his 
cloaths  trimmed  with  great  diamond  buttons,  and  to  have 
diamond  hat-bands,  cockades  and  earings  ;  and  to  be  yoked 
with  great  and  manifold  yokes  of  pearls."1 

As  I  have  already  observed,  it  is  difficult  to  assign  an 
exact  date  to  the  commencement  of  the  friendship  between 
Laud  and  Buckingham  ;  and  its  origin  remains  a  matter  of 
surmise.  On  June  9,  1622,  Laud  writes  in  his  Diary: — 
"  Being  Whitsunday,  my  Lord  Marquess  of  Buckingham  was 
pleased  to  enter  into  a  near  Respect  to  me.  The  particulars 
are  not  for  paper."  To  rush  to  the  conclusion  that  this  was 
the  occasion  of  the  beginning  of  their  great  intimacy  would 
be  hasty  ;  for  the  two  following  entries  sufficiently  describe 
the  cause  of  the  "near  Respect."  "June  15.  I  became  C." 
(confessor)  "to  my  Lord  of  Buckingham.  And  June  16. 
Being  Trinity  Sunday,  he  Received  the  Sacrament  at 
Greenwich''  Probably  their  relations  as  confessor  and 
penitent  would  increase  their  intimacy  to  a  greater  or  less 

1  MS.  Ilarlcian  Lib.  B.II.  90,  c.  7,  fol.  642. 

F  81 


82  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  [Circai622. 

extent ;  although  in  the  Catholic  Church  many  penitents  go 
to  confessors  for  years  without  any  personal  friendship : 
indeed,  it  not  uncommonly  happens  that  they  are  un 
acquainted  with  each  other  outside  the  confessional.  Of 
course,  where  the  confessor  and  penitent  were  already 
personal  friends,  the  case  might  be  somewhat  different, 
although  I  think  that  many  Catholics  would  bear  me  out  in 
saying  that  it  is  possible  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  a 
confessor  and  chaplain,  without  necessarily  becoming  more 
intimate  or  more  friendly  through  the  confessional ;  for  in 
confession  only  sins,  and  those  the  penitent's  exclusively,  need 
be  mentioned,  and  even  in  relation  to  these,  no  names  of 
persons  should  be  given.  Protestants  are  apt  to  forget  that 
the  confessor  cannot  make  the  slightest  allusion  to  anything 
said  in  the  confessional,  when  speaking  to  his  penitent  out 
side  of  it,  unless  the  penitent  gives  him  special  and  formal 
leave  to  do  so. 

My  own  impression  is  that  Laud's  strong  friendship 
with  Buckingham  owed  its  rise  to  the  conference  with 
Fisher.  It  may  be  that  Buckingham  himself  had  been  half- 
convinced  by  Father  Fisher's  arguments,  and  that  he  was 
only  too  grateful  to  Laud  for  enabling  him  to  persuade  him 
self  that  in  the  Anglican  Establishment  he  had  "got  every 
thing,"  including  confession,  that  he  would  be  able  to  get 
if  he  became  a  Catholic,  and  that  it  was  quite  unnecessary, 
nay  that  it  would  be  absolutely  sinful,  to  take  a  step  which 
would  be  the  ruin  of  his  then  proud  position  as  the  most 
influential  personage  in  the  kingdom. 

About  a  fortnight  after  King  James  had  first  spoken  to 
Laud  about  a  conference  with  Fisher,  Laud  went  to  the 
court  at  Greenwich,  "  and  came  back  in  Coach  with  the  Lord 
Marquess  Buckingham.  My  promise  then  to  give  his 
Lordship  the  Discourse  he  spake  to  me  for/'  Their  con 
versation  during  this  drive  was  clearly  on  the  question  of 
Anglicanism  versus  Catholicism  ;  for,  nine  days  afterwards, 
he  writes  : — "  I  delivered  my  Lord  Marquess  Buckingham 
the  Paper  concerning  the  difference  between  the  Church  of 
England  and  Rome,  in  point  of  Salvation,  &c."  Five  days 


^t.49-1  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  83 

later  "  the  Conference  between  Mr  Fisher,  a  Jesuit  and 
my  self,  before  the  Lord  Marquess  Buckingham,  and  the 
Countess  his  Mother"  took  place.  Buckingham's  first 
confession  to  Laud  came  off  within  a  month,  and  this  looks 
as  if  Laud  had  said  to  him  :  "  If  you  only  want  to  be  a 
Roman  Catholic  in  order  to  go  to  confession,  why  not  come 
to  me  ?  "  Until  his  mother  became  a  Catholic,  Buckingham 
does  not  appear  to  have  shown  any  theological  tastes  or 
inclinations  ;  and  it  may  be  worth  noticing  that  now,  as  then, 
Anglicans  who  have  never  exhibited  the  slightest  interest  in 
their  own  Church,  until  one  of  their  nearest  relatives  has  left 
it  for  the  Catholic  Church,  after  that  event,  often  suddenly 
discover  that  they  love  it  with  an  ardour  which  puts  filial 
affection  to  the  blush,  and  overflow  with  a  temporary  zeal 
and  short-lived  piety. 

If  the  smart  courtier  obtained  spiritual  advancement 
through  their  intimacy,  the  ecclesiastic  obtained  temporal. 
As  Professor  Mozley  puts  it : — "  Laud  wedged  his  passage 
further  and  further  through  this  dense  mass,"  i.e.,  the  difficul 
ties  and  obstacles  in  the  way  of  royal  favour,  "  and  found 
himself  at  last  approaching  something  like  a  centre,  and 
penetrating  within  the  inner  circle,  in  which  stood  the  great 
man  himself — the  wielder  of  court  power,  the  dispenser  of 
court  favours — Buckingham.  The  proximity  once  begun 
became  rapidly  closer,  till  the  two  fairly  met,  and  Laud  and 
Buckingham  made  a  coalition."1 

There  has  been  considerable  scoffing  at  poor  Laud's 
prayer  for  a  continuation  of  the  good  graces  of  Buckingham. 
It  is  headed  "  Pro  Duce  Buckinghamiae,"  and  contains  the 
petition,  ''continue  him  a  true-hearted  friend  to  me  thy  poor 
Servant  whom  thou  hast  honoured  in  his  eyes."  This  is 
considered  by  some  people  to  be  the  prayer  of  a  cringing 
toady ;  but,  after  all,  the  favour  of  such  a  man  as 
Buckingham  was  a  matter  of  immense  importance  to  a  man 
desiring  promotion ;  and  if  prayers  for  temporal  blessings  are 
to  be  made  at  all,  surely  a  prayer  for  his  friendship  was  quite 
justifiable,  on  this  score  at  least. 

1  Mozley's  "  Essay  on  Laud,"  p.  129. 


84  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Circai622. 

Some  historians  regard  Laud  in  the  light  of  an  ambitious 
character,  whose  sole  object  was  to  work  his  way  to  supreme 
power,  not  only  in  the  State  Church,  but  also  in  the  State 
itself.  This  appears  to  me  to  be  looking  at  his  history  from 
a  false  standpoint.  I  do  not  think  that  his  nature  was  a 
selfish  one.  It  is  true  that  his  greatest  admirer  cannot 
fairly  defend  him  from  the  charge  of  having  been  self- 
opinionated  ;  but  that  is  a  very  different  thing  from  being 
self-interested.  Perhaps  his  greatest  fault  in  the  way  of  self- 
pleasing  was  his  excessive  love  of  power.  Professor  Mozley, 
whom  I  have  so  lately  quoted,  writes  of  his  "  natural  turn 
for  the  exercise  of  power,  for  tactics,  for  managing — so  strong 
a  taste  in  a  mind  that  feels  itself  to  have  it." l  He  might 
even  have  said  "so  strong  a. passion" 

The  very  influence  obtained  by  means  of  his  friendship 
with  Buckingham,  which  we  have  just  been  considering,  was 
not  used  solely  for  personal  purposes.  The  treasury  was 
then  desperately  empty,  and  it  was  sought  to  replenish  it 
by  alienating  the  lands  belonging  to  the  Charterhouse — 
already  alienated,  so  far  as  that  goes,  from  their  rightful 
owners.  Laud  strongly  opposed  this  second  robbery,  and 
induced  Buckingham  to  prevent  it. 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  unfair  than  Archbishop  Ab 
bott's  remark — " There  he"  (Laud)  "sits  privately  whole  hours 
with  Buckingham,  feeding  his  humours  with  malice  and  spite." 

Laud  is  said  to  have  written  out  speeches  for  Buckingham. 
Dry  indeed  must  they  have  been,  if  this  be  true  !  In  a 
speech  in  Parliament,  some  four  years  later  than  the  time 
of  which  I  am  writing,  Buckingham  "  acknowledged  how 
easy  a  thing  it  was  to  him  in  his  younger  years  and 
inexperienced,  to  fall  into  thousands  of  errors,  but  still  he 
hoped  the  fear  of  God,  his  sincerity  in  the  true  religion 
established  in  the  Church  of  England  (though  accompanied 
with  many  weaknesses  and  imperfections,  which  he  was  not 
ashamed  humbly  to  confess),  &c."  It  was  but  natural 
that,  when  they  heard  this,  his  audience  should  look  at  each 
other  with  a  smile  and  whisper — "  Laud." 

1  Mozley's  "  Essay  on  Laud,"  p.  126. 


^  49 1  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  8 5 

But  we  must  take  leave  of  Buckingham  to  accompany 
Laud  on  his  first  visitation  to  his  out-of-the-way  diocese. 
On  July  5th  he  "first  entered  Wales."  Heylin  calls  St 
David's  "a  poor  city,  God  wot."  In  the  middle  ages  it 
had  been  one  of  some  importance,  owing  to  its  enormous 
concourse  of  pilgrims — to  say  nothing  of  the  famous 
shrine  of  St  David  himself,  the  whole  neighbourhood 
was  full  of  holy  wells  and  chapels — and  there  had  been  a 
splendid  bishop's  palace  ;  but  even  in  Laud's  time,  it  had 
become  the  "  decayed  Episcopal  city "  that  it  has  remained 
ever  since.  Nor  would  a  bishop  from  London  be  over- 
eagerly  welcomed,  for  there  were  few  places  in  Wales  where 
the  distinction  between  the  Welsh  and  the  English  were 
more  jealously  observed. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  look  at  one  or  two  of  the 
"  Articles  to  be  inquired  of  in  the  first  visitation  of  the 
Right  Rev.  Father  in  God,  William  Laud,  Bishop  of  St 
Davids,  1622."  l 

"  Have  you  a  convenient  and  decent  communion  table, 
with  a  carpet  of  silk,  or  some  other  decent  stuff,  continually 
laid  upon  the  table  at  the  time  of  divine  service,  and  a  fair 
linen  cloth  upon  the  same,  at  the  time  of  the  receiving  of 
Holy  Communion  ?  And  whether  is  the  same  table  placed 
in  convenient  sort  within  the  chancel,  and  whether  is  it  so 
used  out  of  divine  service,  as  is  not  agreeable  to  the  holy 
use  of  it,  and  by  sitting  on  it,  throwing  hats  upon  it,  writing 
on  it,  or  is  it  abused  to  other  profaner  uses  :  and  are  the  Ten 
Commandments  set  up  on  the  east  end  of  your  church  or 
chapel,  where  the  people  may  best  see  and  read  them  :  and 
other  sentences  of  holy  Scripture  written  on  the  walls  for 
that  purpose  ?  " 

It  was  the  mark  of  a  High-Churchman  to  have  the  com 
mandments  put  up  over  his  communion-table  in  Laud's  days, 
be  it  observed  ! 

Here  is  another  interesting  inquiry,  intended  for  church 
wardens.2  "  Doth  your  minister,  being  a  preacher,  endeavour 

1  "Lib.  of  Aug.  Cath.  Thcol.,"  Part  v.,  vol.  vi.  pp.  378  and  foil. 
-/£.,  p.  380. 


86  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [^l^622' 

and  labour  diligently  to  reclaim  the  popish  recusants  in  his 
parish  from  their  errors  (if  there  be  any  such  abiding  in 
your  parish)  ?  Or  whether  is  your  parson,  vicar,  or  curate, 
over-conversant  with,  or  a  favourer  of  recusants,  whereby 
he  is  suspected  not  to  be  sincere  in  his  religion  ?"  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  the  Welsh,  unlike  the  English,  had  not,  as 
a  nation,  accepted  the  newly-coined  religion,  and  that  they 
so  far  "  dissented  "  from  it  as  to  remain  in  their  old  Catholic 
faith,  although  priestless,  saying  their  Catholic  prayers,  and 
meeting  in  their  huts  or  on  the  hill-sides,  to  worship  together 
and  sing  psalms  and  hymns,  as  best  they  could.  The  days 
of  the  Wesleys  and  their  Methodism  were  yet  to  come. 

Laud  began  his  "  Visitation  at  the  Colledge  of  Brecknocke!' 
This  would  be  Christ's  College,  of  which  the  Bishop  of  St 
David's  was,  ex  officio,  dean.  There  he  preached.  A  fort 
night  later  he  was  at  his  cathedral  city  and  preached  there 
also.  Ten  days  afterwards  he  "visited  at  Camarthen,  and 
Preached.  The  Chancellor  and  "  his  "  Commissioners  visited 
at  Emlyn,  &c.,  July  16,  17,  and  at  Haverford-West,  July 
19,  20.  Aug.  15,"  he  "set  forward  towards  England  from 
Carmarthen." 

In  a  fortnight  he  was  at  Windsor,  talking  over  his  late 
conference  with  Father  Fisher,  "  in  the  presence  of  the  King, 
the  Prince,  the  Lord  Marquess  Buckingham,  his  Lady,  and  his 
Mother."  For  the  next  two  or  three  months,  he  occupied 
his  leisure  in  writing,  at  the  king's  command,  his  Relation  of 
the  conference  with  Fisher.  He  seems  to  have  been  pleased 
at  being  able  to  write  in  his  Diary,  "  I  was  three  times  with 
the  King  this  Christmas"  and  he  ended  the  year  1622  high 
in  royal  favour,  as  well  as  in  that  which  was  almost  as 
important,  the  favour  of  Buckingham. 

Early  in  1623,  he  wrote: — "I  ordained  Edmund  Provant 
a  Scot  Priest.  He  was  my  First-begotten  in  the  Lord." 
Equally  gratifying  must  it  have  been  to  be  "  instituted  at 
Peterborough  to  the  Parsonage  of  Creeke"  This  was  by  no 
means  his  "first  begotten"  piece  of  church-patronage. 

We  now  come  to  an  entry  in  his  Diary  of  some  moment : — 
"Febr.  i^Munday,  the  Prince  and  the  Marquess  Buckingham 


%rtca5o623-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  87 

set  forward  very  secretly  for  Spaing  Laud  was  one  of  the  few 
and  select  in  the  secret  that  Prince  Charles  and  Buckingham, 
under  the  names  of  John  and  Thomas  Smith,  accompanied 
by  only  three  attendants,  had  gone  to  Spain  to  try  to  bring 
about  a  match  with  the  Infanta. 

Not  only  had  the  King  of  Spain,  but  King  James  also, 
as  well  as  Buckingham,  sent  messengers  to  Rome  to  induce 
the  Pope  (Gregory  XV.)  to  grant  a  dispensation  for  the 
"mixed  marriage."  His  holiness  had  refused  to  grant  it 
unless  the  King  of  England  would  relieve  the  Catholics  in 
his  own  country  from  the  pressure  of  the  penal  laws.  This 
James  consented  to  do,  and  he  gave  orders  to  Lord  Keeper 
Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  to  grant  pardons  under  the 
great  seal  to  such  Catholic  recusants  as  should  be  able  and 
willing  to  give  security  for  their  appearance  if  required.  He 
also  promised,  on  the  word  of  a  king,  that,  provided  mass 
was  said  only  in  private  houses,  Catholics  should  practise 
their  religion  unmolested  in  his  kingdom. 

Unfortunately,  King  James  had  made  use  of  an  expression, 
in  a  certain  theological  treatise,  which  was  not  likely  to 
incline  the  Holy  Father  to  look  very  favourably  upon  the 
marriage  of  a  Catholic  princess  with  his  son.  He  had  called 
the  Pope  Antichrist !  In  this  dilemma,  Laud  came  to  the 
rescue,  by  suggesting  that  James  should  excuse  himself  by 
pretending  that  he  had  merely  used  the  term  "  argument- 
atively,"  "as  a  man  might  say." 

When  the  Spanish  expedition  became  known  in  England, 
it  was  commonly  thought  that  it  would  lead  to  the  conversion 
to  the  Catholic  faith  of  the  heir  to  the  British  throne.  It 
was  reported  that  Laud  had  been  privy  to  the  project  of  the 
expedition  from  the  first,  and  that  he  had  been  the  author 
of  the  king's  quasi-retraction  of  his  Pope-Antichrist  theory. 
A  strong  feeling  set  in  against  him  in  consequence,  and  his 
list  of  enemies  was  greatly  increased  from  that  time. 

The  prince  and  Buckingham  had  not  started  rr^re  than 
four  days  before  Laud  wrote  a  letter  to  the  latter,  anu,  shortly 
afterwards,  he  received  one  from  Buckingham.  It  is  a  little 
difficult  to  reconcile  his  exceeding  Anglicanism  with  his 


88  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Circai623. 

complacency  at  the  proposed  marriage  of  the  heir  apparent 
to  the  English  crown  with  a  Papist,  especially  when  we 
consider  that  he  aided  and  abetted  it  by  attempting  to 
extricate  the  king  from  his  difficulty  about  that  unlucky 
"  Antichrist "  remark.  Perhaps  the  fury  of  his  enemy, 
Abbott,  on  the  other  side  may  have  had  something  to  do 
with  his  zeal  in  promoting  it.  Indeed,  nothing  could  well 
have  been  stronger  than  Abbott's  exhortation  to  the  king,  in 
giving  him  advice  directly  opposite  to  that  of  Laud. 

"  By  your  act,"  he  wrote,  "  you  labour  to  set  up  that  most 
damnable  and  heretical  doctrine  of  the  church  of  Rome." 
This  was  pretty  strong  language  for  a  subject  to  use  to  a 
monarch,  nor  very  likely  to  please  him  !  "  You  show  your 
self,"  he  went  on,  "  a  patron  of  those  doctrines  which  your 
conscience  tells  yourself  are  superstitious,  idolatrous,  and 
detestable.  Add  to  this  what  you  have  done  in  sending  your 
son  into  Spain,  without  the  consent  of  your  council  or  the 
privity  of  your  people"  (and,  still  worse,  with  the  consent 
and  the  privity  of  that  abominable  Laud,  he  no  doubt  added 
mentally).  "  Believe  it,  sir,  howsoever  his  return  may  be 
safe,  yet  the  drawers  of  him  to  that  action  will  not  pass 
away  unquestioned,  unpunished."  (That  Laud  was  in  his 
mind  when  he  wrote  this,  can  scarcely  be  doubted,  and  must 
have  been  apparent  to  the  king.)  "  Besides,"  he  continued, 
"  this  toleration  which  you  endeavour  to  set  up  by  proclama 
tion,  it  cannot  be  done  without  a  parliament,  unless  your  ma 
jesty  will  let  your  subjects  see,  that  you  will  take  to  yourself 
a  liberty  to  throw  down  the  laws  of  your  land  at  pleasure." l 

On  reading  such  a  letter  as  this,  it  would  be  only  natural 
in  the  king,  to  contrast  the  conduct  of  the  two  bishops  in 
the  matter  ;  nor  is  it  unlikely  that  he  would  show  the  angry 
letter  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  the  Bishop  of  St 
David's,  and  the  scene  that  would  then  be  likely  to  follow 
can  easily  be  imagined. 

Uninfluenced  by  the  tirade  of  his  archbishop,  King  James 
made  Buckingham  a  duke  during  his  absence,  sent  jewels, 
officers,  and  chaplains  (probably  of  Laud's  choosing)  to 

1  Rushworth,  p.  85. 


*:t.  5o.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  89 

Prince  Charles,  and  promised  not  only  to  keep  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  adventurers  from  the  knowledge  of  his  Council, 
but  to  ratify  any  treaty  they  might  make  with  the  Spanish 
minister.1  "  The  king,"  wrote  Chamberlain,  "  keeps  all  close, 
and  burns  the  letters  as  fast  as  he  reads  them."  2  In  another 
letter  he  wrote  to  Carleton  : — "The  Prince's  servants  and 
chaplains  are  to  follow  him  with  chapel  furniture,  Latin 
prayer-books,  &c.  The  service  is  to  be  performed  in  Latin,  and 
the  Communion  celebrated  with  wafer  cakes  and  wine  and 
water."  Does  not  this  sound  very  like  a  suggestion  of 
Laud's  ?  Most  certainly  it  would  not  be  Abbott's  !  "  But," 
goes  on  Chamberlain,  "it  will  be  to  no  purpose,  as  the 
Spaniards  will  not  come  near."  3  I  hope  I  may  not  be  thought 
irrelevant  in  noticing  an  allusion  in  one  of  these  two  letters 
to  another  marriage,  as  it  is  a  curiosity.  "  Sir  Hen.  Fiennes, 
half-brother  to  the  late  Earl  of  Berkshire,  is  fined  £2000,  for 
contracting  a  marriage,  de  future,  before  his  wife's  death." 

There  was  one  element  which  the  king  overlooked,  or  of 
which  he  may  have  been  ignorant,  and  that  was  the  mutual 
and  extreme  jealousy  between  Buckingham  and  Digby,  Earl 
of  Bristol  and  English  Ambassador  at  the  court  of  Spain. 
This  did  much  to  hamper  the  negotiations,  which  were  further 
complicated  by  the  artifices  of  the  Spanish  Minister,  Olivarez, 
and  delayed  by  the  death  of  the  Pope. 

Nevertheless,  an  agreement  that  "  the  marriage  should  be 
celebrated  in  Spain,  and  afterwards  ratified  in  England  ;  thai 
the  children  should  remain  till  the  age  often  years  under  the 
care  of  their  mother  ;  that  the  infanta  and  her  servants  should 
possess  a  church  and  chapel  for  the  free  use  of  their  religion  ; 
and  that  her  chaplains  should  be  Spaniards  living  under 
canonical  obedience  to  their  own  bishop,"4  was  eventually 
signed  by  King  James  and  the  Lords  of  the  Council,  including 
Archbishop  Abbott,  in  spite  of  his  letter.  "  Now  I  must  tell 
you  miracles,"  said  the  king  ;  "  our  great  primate  hath 
behaved  himself  wonderfully  well."  5  James  alone  signed,  also, 

1  Hardwicke  Papers,  410,  417,  419.  -  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1619-23,  p.  585. 

3  //>.,  p.  554.  4  Lingard's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  iii. 

0  Har.  Papers,  i.  428. 


90  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud, 

a  private  treaty,  in  the  house  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador, 
before  four  witnesses. 

During  his  absence,  Buckingham's  enemies  in  England 
were  not  idle.  Laud  wrote  to  tell  his  friend  that  cabals  were 
being  formed  against  him.  In  Spain,  his  quarrels  with  both 
Bristol  and  Olivarez  made  his  position  odious.  Political 
questions  connected  with  the  Palatinate,  again,  hindered  the 
marriage,  as  James  and  Charles  were  asking  the  King  of 
Spain  to  help  to  restore  it  to  Frederick,  and  on  the  5th  of 
October,  Prince  Charles  and  Buckingham  returned  from 
their  fruitless  errand.  "  Oct.  6,  Munday"  wrote  Laud,  " they 
came  to  London.  The  greatest  expression  of  Joy  by  all  sorts 
of  People,  that  I  ever  saw." 

Weary  of  the  delays  and  intrigues  at  the  court  of  Spain, 
Prince  Charles  had  left  Madrid,  and,  on  the  point  of  setting 
sail  from  the  coast  of  Spain,  he  had  written  a  declaration  to 
the  effect  that  unless  King  Philip  would  make  good  terms 
with  regard  to  the  Palatinate,  he  would  not  become  his  son- 
in-law.1  After  his  return,  too,  King  James  said  that  he  "  liked 
not  to  marry  his  son  with  a  portion  of  his  daughter's  tears." 

Laud  continued  to  rise  in  the  royal  favour.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  read,  in  a  letter  from  Chamberlain,  that  "  on 
Christmas  Day,  the  Bishop  of  London's  sermon,  probably 
from  its  length,  displeased  the  King,  and  he  grew  so  loud 
that  the  Bishop  was  obliged  to  end  abruptly."2  In  the 
meantime,  King  James  had  been  putting  a  bridle  on  "  the 
abuses  and  extravagances  of  preachers."  "  None  below  the 
degree  of  Dean"  were  "to  enter  on  the  deep  points  of 
election  or  universal  redemption,  &c."  "  None  "  were  "  to 
fall  into  invectives  against  either  Puritans  or  Papists."  "  All 
transgressors  of  these  directions  to  be  suspended."3  So 
arbitrary  was  the  king  to  his  clergy,  that,  when  Prince 
Charles  had  gone  to  Spain,  he  imprisoned  a  clergyman  for 
praying  for  his  safe  return  as  if  there  could  possibly  be  any 
question,  or  need  of  prayers,  on  the  subject.  4 

Green's  "Lives  of  the  Princesses  of  Eng.,"  vol.  v.  p.  415. 

2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom,,"  1619-23,  p.  479.  3  Ib.,  pp.  436,  437. 

4 Green's  "Eng.  Princesses,"  vol.  v.  p.  405. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SHORTLY  before  the  return  to  England  of  Prince  Charles 
and  Buckingham,  Laud  discovered  that  Williams,  the  Lord 
Keeper,  was  very  jealous  of  his  friendship  with  the  last 
named,  and  that  he  had  done  him  some  "very  ill  offices."1 
A  few  days  after  the  newly-made  duke  had  come  home,  he 
wrote  : — "  1  acquainted  my  Lord  Duke  of  Buckingham  with 
that  which  passed  between  the  Lord  Keeper  and  me." 
How  much  this  quarrel  preyed  on  his  mind  is  shown  by 
his  mentioning  in  his  Diary  that  he  "  did  Dream  "  about  it. 
Several  entries  follow  concerning  his  disagreements  with  him, 
and  early  in  the  following  year  is  one  : — "  My  Lord  Keeper 
met  with  me  in  the  with-drawing-Chamber,  and  quarrelled 
me  gratis."  2  This  evidently  depressed  him  ;  for  four  days 
later,  he  wrote : — "  It  was  Simday.  I  was  alone,  and 
languishing  with  I  know  not  what  sadness.  I  was  much 
concerned  at  the  Envy  and  undeserved  Hatred  born  to  me 
by  the  Lord  Keeper."  Within  a  month,  however,  the 
quarrel  was  patched  up.  "  Februar.  18,  my  Lord  Duke  of 
Buckingham  told  me  of  the  Reconciliation  and  Submission 
of  my  Lord  Keeper  ;  and  that  it  was  confessed  unto  him, 
that  his  Favour  to  me  was  a  chief  Cause.  Invidia  quo  tendis  ? 
&c.  At  illc  de  novo  fcedus pepigit"  And  a  month  later 
he  wrote  : — "  Lord  Keeper  his  Complementing  with  me."3 

Williams's  knowledge  that  he  could  ill  afford  to  make 
enemies  just  at  that  particular  time  may  have  led  him  to 
make  the  reconciliation.  Sir  Francis  Englefield  had  accused 
him  of  bribery.  It  is  true  that  for  this,  Englefield  had 
been  fined  £3000  in  the  Star  Chamber ; 4  but  it  was 
not  the  only  charge  against  him.  There  was  also  an 

1  Diary,  p.  7.  2  //>.,  p.  8. 

3  /*.,  p.  10.  *  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1623-5,  p.  165. 


92  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Circai624. 

accusation  of  a  false  judgment  in  Chancery,1  and  Nethersole 
wrote  that  Lady  Darcy's  case  was  "  embarrasing,  the  House 
being  distracted  what  to  do  with  the  Lord  Keeper."  2  Yet 
he  was  striving  to  the  best  of  his  ability  to  please  James 
and  Buckingham,  and  when  efforts  were  being  made  to 
"  rate  the  subsidies  high,  the  Lord  Keeper  said,  that  for 
any  man  to  disguise  his  wealth  was  to  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost,  like  Ananias  and  Sapphira."3 

Laud's  quarrel  with  Williams  was  scarcely  made  up  before  he 
got  into  another ;  indeed  Williams  was  partly  the  cause  of  it. 

The  members  of  Convocation  had  been  subsidising  the 
king  to  the  extent  of  one  fifth  of  their  incomes.  On  Holy 
Saturday,  Laud  went  to  his  friend,  Buckingham,  and  re 
presented  to  him  how  terrible  was  this  tax  to  many 
clergymen  with  small  incomes,  and  he  obtained  from  him 
a  gracious  promise  of  redress.  Delighted  at  this,  on  Easter 
Monday  he  went  to  Williams  and  told  him  what  he  had 
said  to  Buckingham,  and  with  how  favourable  a  result. 
Williams  replied  that  "  it  was  the  best  Office  that  was  done 
the  Church  this  Seven  Years.  And  so  said  my  Lord  of 
Durham." 4  Then  Williams,  and  the  Bishop  of  Durham 
also,  persuaded  Laud  to  go  to  Abbott  and  tell  him  the 
good  news.  Now,  as  after  events  proved,  Williams  loved 
Laud  little  better  now  than  when  they  had  been  quarrel 
ling,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  he  may  have  suggested 
to  him  that  he  should  do  this,  with  a  view  to  getting 
him  into  hot  water.  He  was  a  shrewd,  clever  man,  and 
he  may  have  been  already  aware  of  Abbott's  views  on 
the  subject.  Here  is  Laud's  own  account  of  what  actually 
happened.  "  His  Grace  was  very  angry.  Asked,  what  I 
had  to  do  to  make  any  Suit  for  the  Church.  Told  me, 
never  any  Bishop  attempted  the  like  at  any  time,  nor  would 
any  but  my  self  have  done  it.  That  I  had  given  the  Church 
such  a  wound,  in  speaking  to  any  Lord  of  the  Laity  about 
it,  as  I  could  never  make  whole  again.  That  if  my  Lord 
Duke  did  fully  understand  what  I  had  done ;  he  would 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1623-5,  p.  171.  '2  Ib.,  p.  246. 

3  /£.,  p.  292.  Chamberlain.  4  Diary,  p.  1 1. 


;Et.  5i.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  93 

never  indure  me  to  come  near  him  again.  I  answered  :  I 
thought  I  had  done  a  very  good  Office  for  the  Church ; 
and  so  did  my  Betters  think.  If  his  Grace  thought  other 
wise,  I  was  sorry  I  had  offended  him.  And  I  hoped,  being 
done  out  of  a  good  Mind,  for  the  support  of  many  poor 
Vicars  abroad  in  the  Country,  who  must  needs  sink  under 
Three  Subsidies  in  a  Year,  my  Error  (if  it  were  one)  was 
pardonable."1  The  following  addition  is  significant: — "I  went 
to  my  Lord  Duke,  and  acquainted  him  with  it ;  lest  I  might 
have  ill  Offices  done  me  for  it,  to  the  King  and  the  Prince'' 

Within  a  couple  of  months  he  was  visiting  Buckingham 
for  a  very  different  purpose,  namely  to  sit  up  with  him  during 
an  illness.  This  was  apparently  a  sort  of  seizure,  or  succes 
sion  of  seizures,  of  some  kind.  One  "was  the  first  Fit,  that 
he  could  be  perswaded  to  take  orderly."  Two  days  later, 
"  he  took  his  Fit  very  orderly."  '2  Another  night,  "  My  Lord 
Duke  of  Buckingham  missed  his  Fit."  Perhaps  one  would 
scarcely  have  expected  a  gay  courtier  like  Buckingham  to 
have  selected  Laud  for  a  sick  nurse,  highly  as  he  seemed 
to  respect  him  as  a  confessor  and  a  theologian ;  but  the 
weary  nights  thus  spent  together  would  greatly  increase 
their  intimacy. 

I  may  mention  that,  on  the  Good  Friday  of  the  same  year, 
Laud  was  much  scandalised  at  Lord  Mansfield's  having 
tilted  on  that  day.  "  With  the  shock  of  the  meeting,  his 
Horse,  weaker  or  resty,  tumbled  over  and  over,  and  brake 
his  own  neck  in  the  place  ;  the  Lord  had  no  great  harm. 
Should  not  this  day  have  other  Imployment?"  He,  him 
self,  also  received  a  slight  injury  from  a  horse,  a  few  months 
later.  "  My  Horse  trod  on  my  foot,  and  lamed  me :  which 
stayed  me  in  the  Country  a  week  longer  than  I  intended."4 
Less  than  three  weeks  earlier,  he  complains  of  something 
worse — "  My  passion  by  Blood,  and  my  fear  of  a  Stone,  &c." 
In  the  same  year,  he  also  mentions  a  riding  accident  to 
a  greater  person  than  either  himself  or  Lord  Mansfield  :— 
"Prince  diaries  his  grievous  fall,  which  he  had  in  hunting."5 

1  Diary,  p.  II.  2  //'.,  p.  12.  3  Ib.,  p.  II. 

4  Ib.  *  Ib.,  p.  13. 


94  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [circa^. 

Reverting  to  his  own  ills,  he  writes  in  October: — "Sunday, 
I  fell  at  Night  in  Passionem  Iliacam  ;  which  had  almost  put 
me  into  a  Fever.  I  continued  ill  fourteen  days."1  Shortly 
before  this  he  had  gone  "  to  lye  and  keep  House,  and  Preach,"2 
at  the  livings  which  he  held  in  commendam. 

Laud  was  not  the  only  bishop  accused  of  Popish  inclina 
tions  and  practices.  In  the  same  year  "  a  complaint  is  made 
against  the  Bp.  of  Norwich  for  forbidding  all  preaching  on 
Sunday  forenoons  in  the  32  churches  there,  and  confining 
it  to  the  cathedral,  which  will  not  hold  a  fourth  of  the 
usual  hearers,  and  for  other  things  tending  to  Popery."3 
And  again,  "  Sir  Edw.  Coke  reported  the  accusations  brought 
in  the  House  of  Commons  against  the  Bp.  of  Norwich,  viz.," 
u  excommunication  of  persons  for  not  turning  their  faces  to 
the  east  in  praying,  which  is  a  usurpation  of  Papal  power," 
"and  his  excommunication  of  seven  persons  for  attending  a 
private  catechetical  meeting  held  by  a  clergyman,  whom  he 
compelled  to  acknowledge  himself  wrong  in  holding  it.  He 
is  suspected  of  inclining  to  Popery."  4  It  is  well  to  observe 
that  this  was  before  any  evidence  appears  of  similar  stringency 
on  the  part  of  Laud.  Nor  was  this  ecclesiastical  policy 
without  royal  favour.  "  The  Lord  Keeper  will  not  have  the 
King's  speech  at  the  breaking  up  of  Parliament  published, 
on  account  of  some  passages  not  very  pleasing  relative  to 
the  Puritans,  whom  he  accused  of  careless  traducing  of  the 
Bp.  of  Norwich."5 

The  conversation  in  the  ante-chambers  of  great  personages 
was  a  not  inconsiderable  feature  in  political  life  in  Laud's 
days,  as  in  later.  Early  in  January  1625,  Laud,  while 
waiting  for  an  audience  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  "fell 
in  speech  with  " 6  Secretary  Calvert  "  about  some  differences 
between  the  Greek  and  the  Roman  Church."  As  I  have  already 
had  occasion  to  remark,  so  long  ago  as  this,  Anglicans  seem 
to  have  looked  for  countenance,  if  not  for  intercommunion, 
in  the  East.  "Then  also,  and  there,"  continues  Laud,  "a 

1  Diary.  2  Ib. 

3  Nethersole  to  Carleton.     "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1623-5,  p.  238. 
4  Ib.,  p.  246.  5  Ib.,  p.  267.     Locke  to  Carleton.  (j  Diary,  p.  14. 


>£t.  52.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  95 

Young  Man,  that  took  on  him  to  be  a  Frenchman,  fell  into 
discourse  about  the  Church  of  England.  He  grew  at  last 
earnest  for  the  Roman  Church  ;  but  Tibi  dabo  claves,  and 
Pasce  oves :  was  all  he  said,  save  that  he  would  shew  this 
proposition  in  S/  Augustin,  Romana  Ecclesia  facta  est  caput 
omnium  Ecclesiarum  ab  instante  mortis  Christi.  I  believe 
he  was  a  Priest ;  but  he  wore  a  lock  down  to  his  shoulders." 
Evidently,  the  momentous  passages  quoted  by  this  French 
man  conveyed  little  idea  of  their  import  to  the  mind  of 
Laud. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  would  strike  a  casual  reader  of 
Laud's  Diary  would  be  the  trouble  he  took  to  record  his 
dreams  and  the  importance  which  he  attached  to  them.  A 
specimen  of  these  occurs  in  the  Diary  in  the  month  from 
which  I  have  just  made  a  quotation.  It  runs  : — "  Jannar.  30. 
Sunday  Night,  my  Dream  of  my  Blessed  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  One  of  the  most  comfortable  passages  that 
ever  I  had  in  my  Life."  As  a  rule,  on  the  contrary,  his 
dreams  were  singularly  devoid  of  "  comfortable  passages;" 
things  were  always  going  wrong  in  them,  from  small  ones, 
such  as  that  he  was  going  to  marry  someone  and  could  not 
find  the  marriage  service  in  his  book,  to  regular  howling 
nightmares.  Indeed,  on  reading  the  frequent  notices  of 
horrible  dreams  in  his  Diaries,  one  wishes  that  peaceful  sleep 
could  have  been  invoked  for  the  restless  (and  probably 
bilious)  little  bishop,  in  the  words  of  his  own  contemporaries, 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher  : — 

"  Care-charming  Sleep,  thou  easer  of  all  woes, 
Brother  to  Death,  sweetly  thyself  dispose, 
On  this  afflicted  "  (Laud).     "  Fall  like  a  cloud 
In  gentle  showers  ;  give  nothing  that  is  loud 
Or  painful  to  his  slumbers  ;  easy,  light, 
And  as  a  purling  stream  thou  son  of  night 
Pass  by  his  troubled  senses  ;  sing  his  pain, 
Like  hollow-murmuring  wind  or  silver  rain  ! 
Into  this"  (Laud)  u  gently,  c  h  gently  slide, 
And  kiss  him  into  slumbers  like  a  bride." 

They  might  have  written  them  on  purpose  for  him  ! 
There  was  certainly  a   strong  element   of  superstition  in 


96  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvmhcent. 

his  character.  Some  of  the  entries  in  his  Diary  incline 
one  to  fancy  that  he  may  have  even  half-believed  in 
astrology. 

"  May  i,  E.  B.  Marryed.  The  Sign  in  Pisces."  l 
Some  readers  consider  the  following  to  have  been  looked 
on  as  a  mysterious  and  solemn  portent: — "Aug.  25.  Friday, 
Two  Robin  red-breasts  flew  together  through  the  Door  into 
my  Study,  as  if  one  pursued  the  other.  That  sudden  motion 
almost  startled  me.  I  was  then  preparing  a  Sermon  on 
Ephes.  4,  30,  and  Studying."2  And  in  the  year  1628  there 
seems  a  suspicion  of  celestial  augury  in: — "January  30. 
Wednesday,  My  Lord  Duke  of  Buckingham  s  Son  was  born, 
the  Lord  George  :  New  Moon  die  26."  In  1636  he  wrote  : — 
"  Octob.  14,  Friday  Night,  I  Dreamed  marvelously,  that  the 
King  was  offended  with  me,  and  would  cast  me  off,  and  tell 
me  no  cause  why.  Avertat  Deus.  For  Cause  I  have  given 
none."  In  October  1640,  the  only  thing  he  thought  worth 
recording  in  his  Diary  for  twelve  days,  was  : — Oct.  27,  Tues 
day,  Simon  and  Judes  Eve,  I  went  into  my  upper  Study,  to 
see  some  Manuscripts,  which  I  was  sending  to  Oxford.  In 
that  Study  hung  my  Picture,  taken  by  the  Life  ;  and  coming 
in,  I  found  it  fallen  down  upon  the  Face,  and  lying  on  the 
Floor,  the  String  broken,  by  which  it  was  hanged  against  the 
Wall.  I  am  almost  every  day  threatened  with  my  Ruine  in 
Parliament  God  grant  this  be  no  Omen."3  In  1642,  he 
recorded  a  dream  in  which  he  thought  he  saw  his  old  college 
in  ruins,  and  he  added  : — "  God  be  merciful."  4 

It  naturally  strikes  a  Catholic  as  somewhat  singular  that 
a  religious-minded  man,  with  a  tendency  to  give  credit  to 
supernatural  agencies  acting  through  the  medium  of  natural 
objects,  especially  a  man  living  so  near  the  times  when  his 
own  country  was  Catholic,  and  himself  claiming  many  of  the 
practices  and  ceremonies  of  Catholics  for  his  own  Church,  nay 
even  maintaining  that  that  Church  was  identical  with  the 
Church  which  had  prevailed  in  England  before  the  Reforma 
tion,  should  apparently  have  placed  no  faith  in  any  efficacy 
of  relics,  blessed  objects,  or  communion  with  saints.  Accord- 

1  Diary,  p.  12.          2  16.,  p.  35.  3  73. ,  p.  39.          4  16.  t  p.  64. 


'5-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  97 

ing  to  him,  the  sign  of  pisces  might  possibly  influence  a 
wedding,  but  not  so  the  prayer  of  a  saint  in  heaven  ;  he 
thinks  much  of  a  couple  of  cock-robins  flying  into  his  room, 
yet  pays  no  heed  to  guardian  angels  ;  and  he  regards  the  fall 
of  a  picture,  through  the  two  very  natural  causes  of  the  wear 
ing  away  of  a  string  by  pressure  and  the  force  of  gravitation 
as  a  sign  from  heaven. 

We  now  come  to  an  historical  event  which  had  a  consider 
able  influence  upon  the  career  of  Laud.  "Anno  1625.  March 
27.  Midlent  Sunday,  I  Preached  at  White-hall.  I  ascended  the 
Pulpit,  much  troubled,  and  in  a  very  melancholy  moment ; 
the  Report  then  spreading,  that  his  Majesty  King  James,  of 
most  Sacred  Memory  to  me,  was  Dead.  Being  interrupted 
with  the  dolours  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  I  broke  off 
my  Sermon  in  the  middle.  The  King  died  at  Theobalds 
about  three  quarters  of  an  hour  past  Eleven  in  the  fore 
noon.  He  breathed  forth  his  Blessed  Soul  most  Religiously, 
and  with  great  constancy  of  Faith,  and  Courage.  .  .  . 
The  King  fell  Sick,  March  4,  on  Friday.  The  Disease 
appeared  to  be  a  Tertian  Ague.  But  I  fear  it  was  the  Gout, 
which  by  the  wrong  application  of  Medicines,  was  driven 
from  his  feet  to  his  inward  vital  parts."1  A  post-mortem 
was  made  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  true  cause  of 
his  death,  and  the  verdict  of  the  experts  was  that  his  head 
"  was  very  full  of  braines  ;  but  his  blood  was  wonderfully 
tainted  with  melancholy." s 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  expected  that  I  should  say  a  good 
deal  concerning  the  monarch  who  first  admitted  Laud  to  his 
court,  and,  to  some  extent  also,  to  his  intimacy  ;  but  I  will 
content  myself  by  quoting  the  following  description  of  him. 
"  He  was  of  a  middle  stature,  more  corpulent  throghe  his 
clothes  than  in  his  bodey,  yet  fatt  enouch  :  his  clothes 
ever  being  made  large  and  easie,  the  doubletts  quilted  for 
stiletto  proofe,  his  breeches  in  grate  pleits,  and  full  stuffed. 
He  was  naturally  of  a  timorous  disposition,  which  was 
the  gratest  reasone  of  his  quilted  doublets.  His  eyes 
large,  ever  roulling  after  any  stranger  cam  in  his  presence, 

1  Diary,  p.  15.  2  Harleian  MSS.,  389  ;  Ellis's  "  Letters, "ccciv. 

G 


98  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Circai625. 

in  so  much  as  maney  for  shame  have  left  the  roome,  as 
being  out  of  countenance.  His  beard  was  werey  thin  ; 
his  toung  too  large  for  his  mouthe,  and  made  him  drinke 
werey  vncomlie,  as  if  eatting  his  drinke,  wich  cam  out  into 
the  cupe  in  each  syde  of  his  mouthe.  His  skin  vas  als  softe 
as  tafta  sarsnet,  wich  felt  so  because  he  never  washt  his 
hands,  onlie  rubb'd  his  fingers  ends  slightly  vith  the  vett 
end  of  a  napkin.  His  legs  wer  verey  weake  ...  he  was 
not  able  to  stand  at  sevin  zeires  of  age  ;  that  weaknes  made 
him  euer  leaning  on  other  men's  shoulders."  x 

Although  James  brought  Laud  forward  and  made  him  a 
bishop,  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  thoroughly  trusted  him. 
It  is  difficult  to  know  what  value  should  be  set  upon  his 
conversation  with  Williams,  recorded  in  a  previous  chapter  ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  for  a  long  time  after  he  had  made  Laud 
a  royal  chaplain,  he  did  nothing  further  for  him.  King 
James  acted  as  if  it  was  his  place  to  teach  and  not  to  learn 
from  his  clergy,  and,  fond  as  he  was  of  indecent  buffoonery, 
he  prided  himself  upon  his  knowledge  of  theology  and  canon 
law.  After  a  fashion,  too,  he  was  able  and  learned — "  the 
wisest  fool  in  Europe,"  as  the  Duke  of  Sully  called  him. 
His  death  rather  helped  than  hindered  both  the  ecclesiastical 
and  political  progress  of  Laud,  as  we  shall  see  in  due  course. 
He  may  have  been  "  of  most  sacred  memory  to  "  Laud  ;  but 
so  shrewd  a  man  could  scarcely  have  failed  to  form  a  fairly 
accurate  judgment  of  his  far  from  noble  character.  Until 
his  acquaintance  with  Laud,  James  had  held  views  which 
were  a  mixture  of  High-Churchism  with  Calvinism,  and 
Laud  partially  succeeded  in  eliminating  the  latter  element ; 
in  short,  King  James  relinquished  Calvinism  and  adopted  a 
sort  of  quasi-Arminianism. 

Laud  may  not  have  found  it  a  very  arduous  task  to  convince 
King  James  of  the  error  of  the  Calvinistic  theory  that  "  the 
Church "  is  an  independent  body,  having  ample  powers  of 
self-legislation,  and  yielding  no  privilege  to  princes  except 
that  of  protecting  it.  Equally  easy  would  it  be  to  persuade 
a  king,  who  loved  the  power  of  Church  patronage,  that  the 

1  Balfour,  ii.  108. 


jEt.52.i  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  99 

doctrine  that  all  the  clergy  are  of  equal  rank  and  authority 
is  a  heresy.  James  would  be  pretty  certain  to  consider 
himself  excepted  from  Calvin's  dogma  that  no  man  can  merit 
through  his  own  works,  although  he  might  cordially  approve 
of  the  doctrine  that  if  the  predestinated,  such  as  himself 
for  instance,  fell  into  sin,  they  could  not  be  damned.  From 
a  logical  point  of  view,  Laud  might  soon  induce  James,  who 
was  intelligent  enough  in  many  respects,  to  adopt  the 
theory  of  Arminius  that  predestination  consists  in  the  fore 
knowledge  of  God,  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  of  the 
conduct  of  every  individual  that  should  ever  be  born  ;  as  well 
as  several  other  Arminian  doctrines  which  had  much  in 
common  with  those  of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  such  as  that 
Christ  died  for  all  men  ;  but  that  only  the  faithful  should  be 
saved  ;  that  all  good  works  are  attributable  to  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  nevertheless  does  not  force  men  to  perform 
them  without  their  own  free  will ;  and  that  God  will  give  the 
truly  faithful  grace  to  resist  sin. 

It  ought  to  be  carefully  remembered  that  the  Arminian 
doctrines  in  the  time  of  King  James  should  not  be  confused 
with  certain  developments  of  Arminianism  which  began  some 
five  years  after  his  death  ;  the  latter  chiefly  took  the  direction 
of  building  the  hope  of  salvation  mainly  on  morality  and  good 
works  ;  the  theory  that  everyone  had  a  right  to  interpret 
Scripture  for  himself,  even  to  the  extent  of  what  is  now  called 
free  thought,  and  a  denial  of  the  necessity  of  any  help  from 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

Laud  was  often  called  an  Arminian,  and  in  one  sense  he 
may  have  deserved  the  name  ;  for  we  should  not  forget  that 
most  modern  High-Churchmen  hold  views  which  would  have 
been  called  Arminian  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  James  I.; 
whereas  a  few  years  later,  when  he  eagerly  repudiated  the  title, 
Arminianism  implied  doctrines  which  most  Anglicans  would 
now  condemn  as  heterodox.  Due  allowance  for  this  fact  is 
not,  perhaps,  always  made  by  those  who  maintain  that  Laud 
introduced  and  encouraged  Arminianism  in  this  country, 
although  in  the  sense  of  the  teaching  of  Arminius  himself, 
it  may  be  true  that  "the  Arminian  system  has  very 


TOO  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Circai625. 

much  prevailed  in  England  since  the  time  of  Archbishop 
Laud." ! 

It  may  not  be  altogether  unworthy  of  mention  here 
that,  in  the  very  year  of  King  James's  death,  died  also 
Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  a  great  patron  of  the  Calvinists, 
who  had  driven  the  Arminians  out  of  Holland,  and  that 
after  his  decease  they  were  readmitted  and  began  to  build 
churches  in  that  country,  as  well  as  a  college  at  Amsterdam. 

To  the  English  Puritans,  everything  that  was  not  extreme 
Calvinism  was  Arminianism,  and  they  were  exceedingly 
jealous  of  the  High-Church  clergy,  who  held  views  opposed 
to  their  own,  and  yet  enjoyed  influential  favour.  When 
asked  what  the  Arminians  held,  a  divine  replied  : — "  All  the 
best  bishoprics  and  deaneries  in  England."2  The  Calvinists 
went  further,  and  asserted  that  the  Catholics  encouraged 
Arminianism  among  the  English  in  order  to  draw  them 
towards  the  Church ;  but  it  is  improbable  that  they  took 
the  trouble,  and  pretty  certain  that  they  had  not  the 
opportunity,  of  so  doing  ;  although  it  is  likely  enough  that 
they  would  prefer  the  increase  of  Arminian  doctrines  to  that 
of  Calvinistic  ;  much  as  modern  Catholics,  on  the  whole,  are 
gratified  at  the  spread  of  certain  Catholic  doctrines  and 
practises  among  the  Anglicans,  because  they  hope  that  some 
of  those  who  adopt  them  may  be  dissatisfied  until  they  have 
accepted  the  whole  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  as  has 
already  happened  in  very  many  instances.  In  the  well-known 
clumsy  forgery  called  "  A  letter  founde  amongst  some 
Jesuites,  lately  taken  at  Clerkenwell,  London,  directed  to 
the  Father  Rector  at  Bruxelles,"  of  which  there  are  many 
copies,  the  writer  is  made  to  say  : — "  Nowe  wee  have  planted 
that  soveraigne  drug  Arminianisme,  which  wee  hope  will 
purge  the  Protestants  from  their  heresie,  and  flourishe  and 
beare  fruyte  in  due  season."  By  the  Puritans,  in  fact, 
Catholicism  and  Arminianism  were  classed  together ;  thus 
we  find  an  entry  in  the  Whiteway  Diary,  in  the  British 
Museum  : — "  2Oth  Jany.  1629.  This  day  the  Parliament 

1  "  Ency.  Brit.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  617,  8th  Ed. 

2  Macaulay's  "  Hist.,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i. 


^t.  52.]  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  i  o  i 

met  again  at  Westminster  .  .  .  The  House  resolved  to  settle 
religion  and  to  provide  for  the  Suppression  of  Popery  and 
Arminianism  before  they  could  conclude  any  other  business." 
Except  that  the  two  words  were  without  the  convenient 
alliteration  of  Ritualism  and  Romanism,  Arminianism  and 
Catholicism  were  coupled  together  by  the  extreme  Low- 
Church  party  in  Laud's  times  quite  as  glibly  as  the  same 
party  couples  the  two  former  "  isms  "  in  our  own — to  the 
disgust  of  the  professors  of  both  ;  but  I  have  never  been  able 
to  find,  in  any  seventeenth  century  writings,  traces  of  the 
better-be-one-thing-or-the-other  tone,  so  often  used  by  old- 
fashioned  Protestants  when  speaking  of  Ritualists  in  these 
days ;  nor  have  I  met  with  the  case  of  an  Anglican  in  Laud's 
times,  saying  : — "  Well,  after  all,  I  am  glad  he  is  a  Catholic 
and  not  one  of  those  damned  Arminians,"  as  I  have  known 
one  to  say  in  my  own,  with  the  last  word  altered  for  Ritualist. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THERE  can  be  little  doubt  that  Mr  Gardiner  is  correct  in 
saying  that  with  "the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  Laud's  real 
predominance  in  the  Church  of  England  began."  On  the 
fourth  day  of  the  new  reign,  a  command  from  the  king  was 
delivered  by  the  Lord  Chamberlain  (Pembroke)  to  Laud,  to 
prepare  a  sermon  to  be  preached  before  his  Majesty  and  the 
House  of  Lords,  and,  on  the  eighth,  Laud  delivered  to 
Buckingham,  at  his  request,  "a  Schedule,  in  which  were 
wrote  the  Names  of  many  Church-Men,  marked  with  the 
Letters  O.  and  P.,"  of  which  O.  stood  for  Orthodox,  and  P. 
for  Puritan.  "  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  had  commanded 
to  digest  their  Names  in  that  method ;  that  (as  himself  said) 
he  might  deliver  them  to  King  Charles" x  This,  of  course, 
would  be  with  a  view  to  future  preferment  and  its  contrary. 
All,  however,  was  not  secure  ;  for  the  duke  informed  Laud 
that  a  certain  person  had  "  blackened  "  his  name  to  the  king, 
reminding  him  of  the  little  bishop's  former  misdemeanour  in 
going  through  the  form  of  marriage  between  the  Earl  of 
Devonshire  and  a  divorced  woman  twenty  years  earlier. 
Nevertheless,  this  blackening  process  seems  to  have  done 
Laud  no  great  harm  ;  for,  on  the  very  day  that  he  heard  of 
it,  he  received  a  royal  command  to  go  to  Andrews,  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  "and  learn  from  him,  what  he  would  have  done 
in  the  Cause  of  the  Church ;  and  bring  back  his  answer, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  the  Five  Articles,  &c"*  After 
fulfilling  this  order,  he  went  with  Andrews  to  the  country- 
house  "which  John  Lord  Bishop  of  Rochester  hath  by 
Bromley." 3  They  "  Dined  there ;  and  returned  in  the 
Evening."  As  I  have  already  said,  Andrews  had  at  least 

1  Diary,  p.  16.  -  Id.  3  7£.,p.  1 8. 

102 


Cjrca2z625.]  £^   Qj:  ^^W//*/  £au£  j  03 

as  much  claim  to  be  considered  the  founder  of  modern 
High-Churchism  as  Laud. 

"Auricular  confession,"  says  DTsraeli,  "however  con 
demned  as  a  point  of  Popery,  was  still  adhered  to  by 
many."1  And  he  goes  on  to  say  that  "Bishop  Andrews 
would  loiter  in  the  aisles  of  Paul's  to  afford  his  spiritual 
comfort  to  the  unburtheners  of  their  conscience."  Perhaps 
no  Anglican  ecclesiastic  was  more  of  one  mind  with  Laud, 
and  judging  from  the  way  in  which  he  speaks  of  him,  it  is 
probable  that  Laud  was  more  influenced  by  Andrews  than 
by  any  other  theologian  except  his  first  tutor  at  Oxford. 
He  calls  him  "Lancelot  Andrews,  the  most  worthy  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  the  great  Light  of  the  Christian  World." 2 

Three  weeks  after  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  a  piece  of 
good  fortune  threw  Laud  into  greater  intimacy  with  him. 
This  was  the  fact  of  "  the  Bishop  of  Durham  being  Sick,"  on 
which  occasion,  at  that  bishop's  own  desire,  he  was  appointed 
"to  wait  upon  his  Majesty  in  the  quality  of  Clark  of  the 
Closet,"  until  his  recovery.  In  the  meantime  the  grave  and 
the  gay  were  being  freely  intermingled. 

On  "  May  7.  Saturday,  we  Celebrated  the  Funeral  of  King 
James"*  On  the  1st  of  that  month,  the  Duke  of  Bucking 
ham  had  started  "  early  in  the  morning  "  and  "  in  great  haste  " 
"  towards  the  Sea-side,  to  pass  over  into  France  to  meet 
Queen  Mary  ;  "  and  on  the  I  ith,  "  the  Marriage  "  (by  proxy 
of  course)  "  was  Celebrated  at  Paris,  between  his  Majesty 
King  Charles,  and  the  most  Illustrious  Princess  Henrietta 
Maria  of  France,  Daughter  of  Henry  IV." 

"  Sir  George  Goringe,"  says  an  old  letter,  "  hath  sent 
her  divers  of  our  Common  Prayer  Books,  in  French,  which 
some  suppose  to  give  hope  of  her  conversion ;  but  others 
much  doubt  it,  she  having  a  Bishop  and  twenty-eight  Priests, 
resolute  Papists,  as  are  all  her  servants  ?  "  4 

Within  three  weeks,  Laud  tells  us,  "  King  Charles  set 
forward  toward  Canterbury,  to  meet  the  Queen,"  and  twelve 
days  later  still,  "  it  was  Trinity  Sunday,  Queen  Mary  cross- 

1  "  Life  and  Reign  of  Charles  I.,"  vol.  i.  p.  162.  2  Diary,  p.  36. 

3  Ib.,  p.  17.  4Harleian  MSS.,  389  ;  Ellis's  "Letters,"  cccvii. 


iO4  -Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

ing  the  Seas,  Landed  upon  our  Shore  about  Seven  a  Clock 
in  the  Evening.  God  grant,  that  she  may  be  an  Evening 
and  an  Happy  Star  to  our  Orb."  He  was  never  at  his  best 
when  he  tried  to  be  poetical ! 

Laud  makes  no  mention  of  the  facts  that  the  marriage  had 
been  celebrated  by  the  Cardinal  of  Rochefoucault  on  a 
platform  before  the  large  doors  of  the  Cathedral  of  Paris,1 
and  that  the  contract  was  repeated  in  the  great  hall  at 
Canterbury ;  this  arrangement  would  certainly  annoy  him, 
as  he  would  naturally  wish  the  marriage  to  be  performed 
with  the  full  rites  of  his  own  Church  in  the  Cathedral  at 
Canterbury,  if  at  Canterbury  it  was  to  be  ;  but  he  describes 
the  arrival  in  London  with  some  detail. 

"June  1 6.  Thursday,  the  King  and  Queen  came  to  London. 
They  arrived  at  Court  at  five  a  Clock.  It  was  ill  weather,  and 
the  day  cloudy."  (There  was  a  heavy  thunderstorm,  say  other 
writers.)  "  When  they  came  by  the  Tower  of  London  (for 
they  came  by  water  instead  of  coach),"  each  in  "  green  suits,"  2 
he  might  have  added,  "  the  King  led  out  the  Queen  to  the 
outside  of  the  Barge,  that  she  might  see  the  People  and  the 
City.  But  at  the  same  time,  a  violent  shower  of  Rain  falling 
down,  forced  them  both  to  return  into  the  inward  part  of  the 
Barge.  The  shower  continued,  until  they  had  entred  White- 
Hall  ;  and  then  ceased."3  Those  of  us  who  make  hay  know 
only  too  well  how  it  can  rain  in  this  country  during  "  leafy 
June ;  "  but  for  that  matter,  so  it  can  in  Paris  and  its  neigh 
bourhood,  therefore  the  new  queen  may  not  have  been  much 
surprised  at  the  "  ill  weather."  Laud  does  not  mention  that 
on  the  queen's  entrance  to  London  certain  people  got 
drenched  through  another  cause  than  rain,  one  of  the  barges 
bearing  spectators  having  been  upset  for  want  of  ballast, 
thus  immersing  above  a  hundred  persons  in  the  waters  of 
the  Thames. 

A  couple  of  days  after  the  royal  entry,  Laud  mentions  "the 
Pestilence,  which  then  began  to  be  very  rife,"  in  consequence 
of  which  "  the  King  omitted  the  pomp  usual  upon  "  the  day 

1Somers's  Tracts,  iv.  95  ;  and  Balfour,  ii.  119-25. 
2  Harleian  MSS.,  389  ;  Ellis's  "  Letters,"  cccxiii.  3  Diary,  p.  19. 


2.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  105 

of  the  opening  of  Parliament,  "lest  the  conflux  of  People 
should  be  of  ill  consequence"  ;  and  Laud's  sermon,  which  was 
to  have  been  "  Preached  in  Westminster  Abbey  at  the 
beginning  of  this  Session,"  was  delivered  instead  on  the 
following  day,  "  in  the  Chappel  at  White-Hall"  He  writes 
that  at  the  opening  of  Parliament  there  was  a  French  and,  of 
course,  Catholic,  Bishop,  present,  "  who  Attended  the  Queen." 
It  is  almost  impossible  that  Laud  can  have  looked  upon 
him  with  other  than  jealous  eyes. 

In  consequence  of  the  pestilence,  the  king  and  queen  left 
London  and  went  to  Hampton  Court,  where  they  practically 
passed  their  honeymoon.  "  The  King,"  says  Laud,  "  Com 
manded  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  six  other 
Bishops,  whom  he  Named,  to  advise  together  concerning  a 
Publick  Fast,  and  a  Form  of  Prayer,  to  implore  the  Divine 
Mercy,  now  that  the  Pestilence  began  to  spread,  and  the 
extraordinary  wet  weather  threatened  a  Famine."1  Laud  was 
one  of  the  bishops  selected.  He  records  that  in  one  week 
there  died  at  "  London  1222  Persons."  No  wonder,  then, 
that  he  was  glad  to  get  out  of  the  plague-stricken  city  : 
he  writes,  "  I  went  into  the  Country,  to  the  House  of  my 
good  Friend  Francis  Windebank"  This  future  Secretary  of 
State  had  become  a  favourite  of  Laud's  when  he  was  an 
undergraduate  at  St  John's,  Oxford,  and  he  was  to  owe  to 
Laud,  in  a  great  measure,  the  rapid  advancement  which 
was  so  soon  to  fall  to  his  share. 

After  a  couple  of  days'  stay  with  Windebank,  Laud  went 
on  to  Windsor,  "  to  perform  some  Businesses  committed  to  " 
his  "  trust  by  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  of  Durham." 
"  The  Court  was  there  at  that  time."  He  returned  that  night 
to  Windebank's,  and  went  to  Windsor  again  two  days  after 
wards,  and  "  stood  by  the  King  at  Dinner-time  ;  Some 
Matters  of  Philosophy  were  the  subject  of  the  Discourse." 
The  same  evening,  he  says  : — "  I  Eat  in  the  House  of  the 
Bishop  of  Gloucester."  We  saw  lately  that  the  queen  had  her 
bishop  with  her,  and  the  king  may  have  thought  it  well  to  be 
protected  by  bishops  of  his  own  !  "  The  next  day  one  of  the 

1  Diary,  p.  20. 


io6  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  ixviith  cent. 

Bishops  Servants,  who  had  waited  at  Table,  was  seized  with 
the  Plague.  God  be  merciful  to  me  and  the  rest"1  He 
was  glad  to  go  back  to  Windebank's  that  evening,  having  a 
swelled  leg,  as  to  the  cause  of  which  he  was  uncertain,  but 
inclined  to  the  opinion  that  it  might  have  been  brought 
about  "  by  the  biting  of  Buggs."  To  find  such  fellow-visitors 
in  a  royal  palace  seemed  hard  ;  but  Laud  would  probably 
look  with  suspicion  upon  the  members  of  the  queen's  French 
retinue,  and  think  that  the  presence  of  the  "  Buggs  "  could 
easily  be  accounted  for.  On  the  twentieth  of  July  was  the 
public  fast,  and  Laud  preached  that  day,  and  also  on  the 
following  Sunday,  at  Windebank's  parish  church  of  Hurst. 

If  Laud  experienced  no  sensations  of  jealousy  at  the 
presence  of  a  real  bishop  and  priests  at  the  English  court, 
he  must  have  been  more  than  human.  Most  trying  of  all 
must  it  have  been  to  him  when  the  news  reached  him  that 
King  Charles  had  actually  attended  mass — if  indeed  he 
ever  did  so  ;  I  quote  from  a  small  book 2  published  in  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century — "  He  had  been  publickly 
seen  at  mass  "  it  states,  "  at  Somerset  house  thinking  to  have 
gul'd  the  world,  when  he  was  placed  in  the  Queen's  Lobby." 
"  At  length  in  comes  the  Earle  of  Dorset  with  a  just  indigna 
tion,  not  reflecting  on  None-Such  Charles  as  on  a  Prince ; 
and  faining  not  to  heed  his  quality  kept  his  hat  on,  and 
hardly  taking  it  off,  hee  said  (as  if  it  had  bin  to  some  indifferent 
person)  God  save  you  Sir,  you  have  this  morning  forfeited 
fifteen  shillings :  Why  Dorset,  said  the  King,  doe  you  speake  in 
such  termes  ?  To  which  Dorset  answered ;  the  fifteen  shillings 
Sir,  make  three  Crowns,  which  you  have  forfeited,  and  your 
three  Kingdomes  to  boote^  by  your  having  been  seen  at  Masse, 
where  of  there  are  a  thousand  witnesses :  For  that  all  the 
whole  congregation  saw  you,  and  know  it,  and  thus  have  you 
publickly  transgressed  against  the  Fundament  all  Laws  of  your 
Land.  For  the  which  that  Lord  was  put  into  the  Courts 
black-book." 

Everyone  who  could  had  left  London,  on  account  of  the 
plague,  and  the  Parliament  was  to  meet  at  Oxford.  Laud 

1  Diary,  p.  21.  2  "None-Such  Charles,  his  Character,"  p.  131. 


irtc*2'625-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  107 

also  went  thither  from  Windebank's,  on  the  Friday.  On  the 
Sunday,  he  was  in  the  parlour  of  the  President's  lodging  at 
his  old  College  of  St  John's,  when  he  suddenly  fell  down, 
how  he  did  not  know,  and  hurt  his  left  shoulder  and  hip.  I 
think  that  a  modern  doctor  would  infer,  from  his  own 
description  of  his  tumble,  that  it  must  have  been  caused  by 
a  fainting  fit,  or  a  vertigo  of  some  sort.  At  least  one  other 
fall  that  he  had  in  after  life  also  sounds  as  if  it  had  pro 
ceeded  from  some  such  attack,  and  it  seems  not  unlikely 
that  if  he  had  not  been  executed,  he  might  have  died  of 
apoplexy. 

Parliament  was  opened  at  Oxford  the  next  day,  and 
immediately  "a  great  assault  was  made"  in  it  against  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,  a  thing  that  would  be  highly  displeas 
ing,  if  not  alarming,  to  Laud.  In  twelve  days,  however,  "the 
Parliament  was  dissolved  ;  the  Commons  not  hearkening,  as 
was  expected,  to  the  King's  proposals."  This  was  the 
beginning  of  discontent  and  troubles,  but  they  were  not  to 
reach  their  climax  for  many  years  to  come.  Laud  told  the 
truth  in  saying  that  the  Parliament  was  dissolved  because  it 
would  not  listen  to  the  king's  proposals,  but  the  appearance 
of  the  pestilence  at  Oxford  was  made  the  ostensible  pretext. 

The  session,  which  may  be  said  to  have  begun  in  London 
and  ended  at  Oxford;  was  rendered  stormy  by  other  causes 
besides  the  refusal  of  the  Commons  to  grant  the  subsidies 
demanded  by  the  king.  One  was  "a  pious  petition"  pre 
sented  by  the  House  to  the  king,  imploring  him  to  put 
into  immediate  execution  the  existing  laws  against  all 
Catholic  priests  and  recusants.  As  his  Majesty  had  but 
just  married  a  Catholic  princess,  such  a  petition,  however 
pious,  was  neither  graceful  nor  well-timed,  especially  as  he 
had  bound  himself  by  a  treaty  to  be  indulgent  within  his 
realms  to  those  of  his  wife's  faith,  and  his  palace  was  at 
that  moment  crowded  with  Catholic  noblemen  from  France. 
He  was  prudent  enough,  however,  to  give  as  gracious  an 
answer  as  circumstances  permitted. 

Another  bone  of  contention  in  the  House  of  Commons 
was  a  book  written  by  Dr  Montagu.  As  this  was  a  matter 


1 08  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.         [Temp,  james  i. 

in  which  Laud  was  mixed  up,  I  shall  dwell  on  it  at  some 
length,  and,  although  it  will  oblige  me  to  anticipate  (and 
to  look  back,  also,  for  that  matter),  I  will  dispose  of  it 
altogether  while  I  am  about  it. 

In  the  reign  of  James,  Richard  Montagu,  Chaplain  in 
Ordinary  to  the  king,  Fellow  of  Eton,  and  Canon  of 
Windsor,  had  been  also  Rector  of  Stanford-Rivers  in 
Essex.  Not  very  far  from  his  rectory,  stood  by  itself  in 
a  lonely  field  a  house  which,  after  having  been  long  un 
occupied,  was  taken  by  a  stranger  of  whom  none  of  the 
neighbours  seemed  to  know  anything.  By  day,  the  building, 
to  all  appearances,  might  still  have  been  untenanted,  but 
at  night  figures  were  occasionally  observed  going  to  or 
from  the  house.  By  degrees,  it  was  whispered  that  the 
mysterious  old  place  had  several  residents,  and  that  these 
were  Jesuits,  who  were  attempting  to  make  converts  in  the 
surrounding  country.1 

Montagu,  who  was  a  High-Churchman  and  fond  of  con 
troversy,  by  some  means  intimated  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  lonely  grange  that  he  knew  who  and  what  manner  of 
men  they  were,  and  that  he  would  be  delighted  to  dispute 
with  them  about  religion,  adding  that,  if  they  could  convince 
him,  he  would  strike  his  flag  and  join  their  Church. 

In  a  short  time,  a  little  pamphlet,  entitled  A  New  Gag 
for  an  Old  Gospel  was  dropped  in  the  night  through  his 
study  window,  with  a  note,  begging  for  a  reply,  attached 
to  it. 

Finding  that  the  pamphlet  attacked,  not  the  High-Church 
party  to  which  he  belonged,  but  Calvinism,  or,  at  any  rate 
the  Calvinistic  element  in  Anglicanism,  and  represented 
that  Calvinistic  element  to  be  the  orthodox  religion  of  the 
Church  of  England  as  by  law  established,  Montagu  was  as 
furious  as  a  modern  Puseyite  might  have  been  if  a  Catholic 
priest  had  attacked  him  for  holding  the  most  extreme 
evangelical  views.  He  wrote  a  lengthy  reply,  which  King 
James  advised  him  to  publish,  and  it  appeared,  in  due 
course,  under  the  title  of  TJie  Gagger  Gagged. 

1  Benson,  p.  75. 


Temp.  James  I.]  Ll/6   of  ArcJMshop   Laud.  I OQ 

Nothing  could  possibly  have  been  more  anti-Catholic. 
Its  very  title-page  is  enough  to  prove  this.  "A  Gagg  for 
a  new  Gospell  ?  No  :  A  new  Gagg  for  an  old  Goose,  who 
would  needes  undertake  to  stop  all  Protestant  mouths  for 
ever,  with  276  places  out  of  their  owne  English  Bibles,  or 
An  Answer  to  a  late  Abridger  of  Countrouversies  and  Belyar 
of  the  Protestants  Doctrine."  Rewrites  about  the  "  jugling 
tricks  "  and  the  "  puppet  playes  "  at  "  Lauretto."  "  As  for 
Miracles,  Visions,  and  such  Hobgoblin  Stuffe,  I  am  con 
tented  you  appropriate  for  your  owne."  He  addresses  the 
author  of  the  opposition  pamphlet  as  "  Silly  Man,"  and  tells 
him  things  which  are  "  enough  to  shame  you,  if  you  be  not 
past  grace  of  shame."  "I  have  discovered,"  he  says,  "your 
false  play,"  "  your  cousening  trick,"  and  your  "  ridiculous 
interpretation  " ;  and  he  politely  adds  : — "  If  I  have  any 
occasion  hereafter  to  speake  of  learned  and  moderate  men,  I 
will  except  you  and  yours."  As  to  the  "  Councels  of  Trent, 
of  Florence,  of  Lateran,"  he  considered  them  of  no  more 
authority  than  the  "  synods  of  Gapp  and  Dort." 

Strange  to  say,  it  was  not  with  the  Catholics,  but  with  the 
Puritans  that  this  book  was  to  get  its  author  into  trouble. 
His  repudiation  of  Calvinist  doctrines  gave  intense  annoy 
ance  to  their  many  ardent  professors  among  the  Anglicans, 
and,  in  his  controversy  with  the  Jesuits,  he  raised  the  wrath 
of  the  whole  Puritan  faction  in  his  own  Church,  by  defending 
the  use  of  images,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  use  of  the  word 
altar,  the  real  presence,  confession,  absolution,  and,  in  a 
certain  limited  sense,  apostolical  succession  and  orders. 
Moreover,  although  "farre  from  the  lesuites  fancie,"  on  the 
subject,  Montagu  professes  that  he  "agreeth  in  part  with 
the  Councell  of  Trent,"  and  he  thinks  that  "  the  markes  of 
the  Great  Antichrist  fit  the  Turkish  Tyrannic  every  way  as 
well  as  the  Papacy." 

There  was  a  terrible  outcry  against  the  book,  whereupon, 
Montagu  wrote  another  which  he  called  Appello  Casarem, 
"  A  IVST  APPEALE  from  Two  Vniust  Informers."  Un 
fortunately  for  him,  his  patron,  King  James,  died  about  that 
time,  and  the  first  Parliament  under  King  Charles  had  not 


no  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud. 

been  opened  many  days  before  the  Committee  of  Religion 
which  had  been  immediately  appointed,  took  in  hand  Dr 
Montagu's  books  and  prepared  a  charge  against  him  to  be 
delivered  to  the  House  of  Lords.  He  had  committed  the 
terrible  crime  of  admitting  that  the  Church  of  Rome,  although 
in  error,  was  nevertheless  a  true  Church.  At  Oxford,  on  the 
2nd  of  August,  Laud,  with  two  other  Anglican  bishops,  wrote 
to  King  Charles  pleading  on  Montagu's  behalf.1  It  may 
easily  be  understood  how  Laud  would  sympathize  with  a 
High-Church  clergyman,  who,  like  himself,  had  written  a 
book  of  controversy  against  a  Jesuit.  The  Parliament,  how 
ever,  was  bent  on  punishing  him,  and  notwithstanding  Laud's 
entreaties,  the  king  refrained  from  any  interference  in  the 
matter.  Fortunately  for  Montagu,  the  sudden  dissolution 
of  the  Parliament,  recorded  above,  saved  him  for  the 
moment  from  further  trouble. 

The  matter,  however,  was  not  allowed  to  rest  there.  On 
one  of  the  first  days  of  the  following  year,  Laud  wrote  in  his 
Diary  that,  "  by  the  King's  Command,  a  Consultation  was 
held,  what  was  to  be  done  in  the  Cause  of  Richard  Montague. 
There  were  present,  the  Bishops  of  London,  Durham,  Win 
chester,  Rochester,  and  St  Davids!' '  At  the  same  time  he, 
with  the  other  four  bishops,  wrote  to  Buckingham,  not  only 
pleading  in  behalf  of  Montagu,  but  defending  his  books.3 

The  dispute  over  Montagu  and  his  works  went  on,  at  inter 
vals,  for  about  three  years.  Finally,  the  House  of  Commons 
fined  him  ^2000,  and  condemned  him  to  imprisonment.4 
At  this  King  Charles  was  offended.  Montagu  was  one  of 
his  own  royal  chaplains,  and  he  did  not  admit  the  right  of 
the  House  of  Commons  to  punish  members  of  his  house 
hold.  One  of  the  many  unpleasant  tiffs  between  the  king 
and  his  Commons  ensued.  The  latter  were  obdurate  ;  had 
not  the  affair,  said  they,  been  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
Committee  of  Religion,  and  had  not  that  Committee  con 
demned  Montagu  and  his  writings  ? 

Laud  now  came  to  the  rescue.       He  saw  that  the   king's 

1  "  Die.  Nat.  Biog.,"  Laud.     By  S.  R.  Gardiner.  z  Diary,  p.  26. 

3  "Die.  Nat.  Bio?.,"  Laud.  4 Benson,  p.  79. 


28]  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  1 1 1 

dignity  was  hurt  by  the  interference  of  the  odious  House  of 
Commons  with  one  of  his  own  domestic  officials  ;  so  he 
eagerly  seized  the  opportunity,  and  struck  while  the  iron  was 
hot.  The  See  of  Chichester  happened  to  be  vacant,  and  he 
persuaded  the  king  to  give  it  to  Montagu,  and  thus,  by 
making  him  a  peer,  place  him  above  the  reach  of  the  Lower 
House.  The  Commons  were  furious  !  Unquestionably,  it 
was  a  very  smart  piece  of  strategy — if  not  of  sharp  practise — 
on  the  part  of  Laud,  and  a  glorious  victory  over  his  enemies  ; 
but  it  increased  their  spite  against  him,  and  probably  their 
number  also. 

Having  made  a  bishop  of  Montagu,  the  king  thought  it 
wise   to    pardon    the   new   dignitary    for   his    objectionable 
writings  in  a   somewhat  ostentatious    manner,   and    he  was 
prudent  enough  to  have  a  pretty  broad  hint  conveyed  to  him 
that  he  must  be  more  careful  for  the  future.     The  Attorney 
General    was   chosen   for   the    purpose,   and   he  fulfilled  his 
errand  by  means  of  a  letter.     "  As  commanded  by  the  King, 
he  has  prepared  a  pardon  for  the  Bishop,  but  not  having  the 
customary  warrant  in  writing,  has  not  caused  the  bill  to  be 
engrossed.     Haply  this  pardon  may  set  him  free  \nforo  civili, 
but   the   Parliament  may  call  things   past  in  question,  not 
withstanding  this  pardon,  nay  perhaps,  by  the  pardon,  they 
will  rather  be  stirred  to  question  him.     He  is  now  a  father  of 
our  Church,  and  as  a  father  will  tender  its  peace  and  quiet. 
Alas !  a  little  spot  is  seen  upon  that  white  garment,  and  a 
little  fire,  nay  a  spark,  may  inflame  a  great  mass.     We  are 
bound  in  conscience  to  prevent  occasions  of  strife.     Suggests, 
therefore,  that  he  should  review  his  book,  and  take  away  the 
acrimony  of  the  style,  and   explain  things  left  doubtful,  so 
that  his  own  pen  may  remove  all  scandal,  and  a  stop  be  given 
to  this  unhappy  difference  and  jealousy,  which  otherwise  may 
trouble  the  quiet  of  our  Church,  and  occasion  the  disquiet  of 
the  commonwealth.     Wishing  that  a  clearing  of  these  clouds 
may  proceed  from  the  Bishop,  and  then  the  pardon  would 
seasonably  follow."1     In  short,  it  would  appear,  that  if  the 
bishop   should  do  what  he  was  told,  "  then "  the  Attorney 
1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1628-9,  p.  346. 


ii2  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [S?55l628' 

General   would    happen    to   have   by  him    a   copy  of  "  the 
customary  warrant  in  writing." 

Perhaps  Montagu  did  not  act  upon  this  good  advice  ;  for 
three  months  later  we  find  a  "  Proclamation  for  suppressing 
the  book  written  by  Richard  Montague,  now  Bishop  of 
Chichester,  then  Bachelor  of  Divinity,  entitled  '  Appello 
Caesarem,  or  An  Appeal  to  Caesar,'  which  was  published  in 
the  year  1625,  and  was  the  first  cause  of  those  disputes  which 
have  since  troubled  the  quiet  of  the  Church."  \Coll.  Procs., 
Car.  /.,  No.  99]. 1  This  was  much  as  if  the  Pope  had  first 
made  a  man  a  bishop,  and  then  promptly  put  his  writings  on 
the  Index. 

I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  Montagu's  books,  because,  not 
only  did  Laud  take  an  active  part  in  defending  both  the 
works  themselves  and  the  writer,  but  his  countenance  and 
even  his  possession  of  copies  of  them  was  eventually  brought 
as  a  charge  against  him  at  his  trial  for  high  treason. 

In  his  own  account  of  his  defence,  he  writes : — "  The 
Fourth  Charge,  To  the  Licensing  of  Sales,  and  other  Books 
which  had  Popery  in  them,  &c.  .  .  .  The  Sixth  Instance  was 
in  Bishop  Montague's  Books,  the  Gagg,  and  the  Appeal.  Here 
they  said,  that  Dr  White  told  Dr  Featly,  that  five  or  six 
Bishops  did  allow  these  Books.  But  he  did  not  name  me  to 
be  one  of  them.  Then  Mr  Pryn  urged  upon  his  Oath,  that 
these  Books  were  found  in  my  Study.  And  I  cannot  but  bless 
myself  at  this  Argument.  For  I  have  Bcllarmine  in  my 
Study;  Therefore  I  am  a  Papist :  Or  I  have  the  Alcaron  in 
my  Study ;  Therefore  I  am  a  Turk,  is  as  good  an  Argument 
as  this :  I  have  Bishop  Montague's  Books  in  my  Study ; 
Therefore  I  am  an  Arminian.  May  Mr  Pryn  have  Books  of 
all  kinds  in  his  Study,  and  may  not  the  Archbishop  of  Canter 
bury  have  them  in  his  ?  Yea,  but  he  says,  there  is  a  Letter  of 
the  Bishops  to  me,  submitting  his  Books  to  my  Censure.  This 
Letter  hath  no  date,  and  so  belike  Mr  Pryn  thought  he 
might  be  bold  both  with  it  and  his  Oath,  and  apply  it  to 
what  Books  he  pleas'd.  But  as  God  would  have  it,  there  are 
Circumstances  in  it  as  good  as  a  Date.  For  'tis  therein 

i  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1628-9,,  p.  451. 


c»a  *«+]  Life  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  i  1  3 


expressed,  that  he  was  now  ready  to  remove  from  Chichester 
to  Norwich.  Therefore  he  must  needs  speak  of  submitting 
those  his  Books  to  me,  which  were  then  ready  to  be  set  out, 
which  were  his  Origines  Ecclesiastic^  not  the  Gagg,  nor  the 
Appeal,  which  are  the  Books  Charged,  and  which  were 
Printed  divers  Years  before  he  was  made  a  Bishop."  * 

Of  course  Laud  knew  well  enough  that  he  had  defended 
Montagu  with  regard  to  both  The  Gag  and  The  Appeal  ;  but 
when  he  was  on  trial  for  his  life,  he  was  quite  justified  in 
endeavouring  to  evade  the  charge  instead  of  admitting  that 
he  had  approved  of  the  books.  I  cannot  understand  any 
reasonable  person  blaming  a  prisoner,  being  tried  on  a  capital 
charge,  for  resorting  to  such  a  mild  evasion  as  this  if  the 
opportunity  presented  itself  —  unless  the  prisoner  happened 
to  be  a  Jesuit,  in  which  case  I  know  from  experience  that 
the  average  English  reader  of  history  would  condemn  such  a 
proceeding  as  casuistry,  falsehood,  and,  in  the  very  worst 
sense,  Jesuitism. 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  pp.  363-5. 


CHAPTER   XL 

IN  order  to  discuss  the  Montagu  affair,  we  left  Laud  at  Oxford, 
where  we  must  now  return  to  him.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  on  the  3ist  of  July  1625  he  had  had  a  sudden  attack  of 
illness  in  the  President's  lodging  at  St  John's  College ;  the 
next  day  "Parliament  began  at  Oxford,"1  and,  on  the  I2th 
of  August,  "the  Parliament  was  dissolved."  For  August 
1 5th,  there  stands  the  following  entry2: — "My  Relapse,  I 
never  was  weaker  in  the  judgment  of  the  Phisician.  It  was 
Munday.  The  same  day  I  began  my  journey  towards 
Wales." 

When  we  consider  what  the  roads  were  like  in  those  times,  to 
start  on  a  journey  of  more  than  two  hundred  miles,  with  a  view 
to  making  a  visitation  of  his  diocese,  says  much  for  the  deter 
mination  and  courage  of  a  delicate  man,  on  the  very  day  that 
he  had  suffered  a  relapse  and  had  been  pronounced  weaker 
than  he  had  ever  been  in  his  life  by  his  doctor ;  and  his 
Oxford  doctor  would  probably  have  had  much  experience  of 
his  constitution.  Nevertheless,  the  journey  seems  to  have 
done  him  more  good  than  harm  ;  for  six  days  later,  that  is  to 
say  on  the  following  Sunday,  he  "Preached  at  Brecnock,"  where 
he  stayed  a  couple  of  days,  "  very  busie  in  performing  some 
business."  3  Although  well  enough  to  preach  and  work,  either 
the  fatigue  of  his  long  journey  or  the  unwholesomeness  of  the 
food  he  obtained  on  it,  disturbed  his  slumbers,  and  he  describes 
his  dreams,  which  appear  to  have  been  unpleasantly  vivid. 

The  next  Wednesday,  he  arrived  safely  ("  thanks  be  to 
God  ")  at  his  own  house,  or  palace  at  u  Aberguille"  in  spite  of 
his* coach  having  been  "  twice  overturned  that  day  ";  the  first 
time  he  "  was  in  it ;  but  the  latter  time  it  was  empty."  4 

Since  he  had    last   visited    his   diocese,  just   three   years 

1  Diary,  p.  21.  2  Ib.  3  Ib.,  p.  22.  4  //;. 

114 


-]  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  \  1 5 

earlier,  he   had   had    a   domestic    chapel,    or   oratory,   built 
at  his  palace,  at   his  own   expense,  and  it  was    now   ready 
for   use ;    he   "  named   it   the    chappel    of    St   John    Baptist 
in   grateful  remembrance  of  St  John  Baptist's  Colledge  in 
Oxford!'  of  which  he  had  been  "  first  Fellow,  and  afterwards 
President."    Like  not  a  few  modern  High-Church  Anglicans, 
he  just  a  little  over-reached  himself  in  his  endeavours  to  be 
Popish  ;  for,  after  his  own  fashion,  he  "  consecrated  "  it.    Even 
his  hagiographer,  Heylin,  writes  that  "it  was  objected  that 
neither  Gratian,  nor  the  Roman  Pontifical,  conceive  such  Con 
secrations  necessary  to  a  Private  Chappel."  l     To  be  stormed 
at  by  Puritans,  and  to  be  laughed  at  by  Catholics,  for  this 
performance,  must  have  been  very  trying  to  the  temper  of 
the  High-Church  bishop,  in  his  attempts  to  be  ultra-orthodox. 
To  make  matters  worse,  after  everything  had  been  arranged 
for  the   consecration,  he  was  "intent  on  prayer"  the  very 
evening  before  the  Sunday  on  which  it  was  to  take  place, 
when  it  suddenly  struck  him — with  that  peculiar  force  with 
which  exterior  things  have  a  way  of  striking  us,  when  we 
imagine  ourselves  to  be  praying — that  it  must  be  very  near 
the   date   of   the   beheading   of    St   John    the    Baptist;    so 
"  when  Prayers  were  finished,"  he  "  consulted  the  Calendar." 
To  his  vexation  he   found  that  the  beheading  of  St  John 
the    Baptist    fell   "upon    Munday,   to   wit,"   and    not   upon 
Sunday   as   he    "  could    have   wished."      In    fact,    the   feast 
would  come  the  day  after  the  fair.    He  hoped  that  this  would 
be  " of  no  ill  Omen"  and  he  comforted  himself  by  reflecting 
that  the  day  on  which  he  was  to  consecrate  the  chapel  to 
St  John  the  Baptist  was  the  selfsame  on  which  King  James 
had    sat  "  for   three   hours   together   at    least,"    hearing   his 
cause  about  his  election  to  the   Presidentship  of  St  John's, 
and  with  very  happy  results  ;  he  appears  to  have  considered 
that,  after  all,  for  practical   purposes,  James,  the  king,  was 
of  more  service  to  him  than  John,  the  saint,  and  as  he  did 
not   believe   in   the    invocation    of  saints,  this  was   natural 
enough. 

Poor   man,   he   had   very   bad    nights   in    Wales,    "  valde 

i  "Cyp.  Angl.,"p.  88. 


1 1 6  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Sr52l625< 

turbatus  sum  per  insomnia"  he  writes,  gloomily.  In  the 
course  of  his  dreams,  "  all  seemed  to  be  out  of  order,"  as 
things,  indeed,  not  uncommonly  appear  on  such  occasions. 
There  is  something  truly  pathetic  in  this,  and  who  has 
not  experienced  that  wretched  sensation  on  a  restless 
dreamy  night  ?  After  describing  his  nocturnal  miseries  and 
nightmares,  he  writes  devoutly :  —  "  God  grant  better 
things." ! 

His  description  of  the  candidature  for  Anglican  ordination 
in  his  diocese  is  grotesquely  lamentable  : — "  One  only  Person 
desired  to  Receive  Holy  Orders  from  me  ;  and  he  found  to 
be  unfit,  upon  Examination."  2  "  I  sent  him  away  with  an 
Exhortation,  not  Ordaining."  Small  wonder,  after  the 
experience  of  examining  this  solitary  Welsh  aspirant  for 
orders,  that  he  dreamt  worse  than  ever — of  people  "  cloathed 
in  flourishing  green  Garments,"  and  of  a  bishop  with  "  his 
Head  and  Shoulders  covered  with  Linen." 

One  day,  he  "went  on  Horseback  up  to  the  Mountains," 
and  so  fine  and  warm  was  the  weather  for  the  time  of  year 
(October  loth)  that  when  he  returned,  he  and  his  "Company" 
picnicked  "in  the  open  Air"  instead  of  dining  in  the  country 
house  of  his  Registrar,  where  he  appears  to  have  been 
staying. 

A  month  later  he  started  for  England,  after  spending  but 
little  short  of  three  months  in  his  diocese.  It  took  him  ten 
days  to  get  to  "  Honye-Lacye  in  Herefordshire,"  and  four 
days  after  that  he  reached  the  house  of  his  "  great  Friend 
Fr.  Windebanke.  There  the  Wife  of  my  Friend  (for  himself 
was  then  at  Court)  immediately  as  soon  as  I  came,  told  me, 
that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  (then  negotiating  for  the 
Publick  in  the  Low -Countries]  had  a  Son  born;  whom  God 
bless  with  all  the  good  things  of  Heaven  and  Earth."3 
I  firmly  believe  that  in  writing  this  he  was  thoroughly 
sincere.  Whatever  may  be  said  against  him,  he  was  capable 
of  strong  attachments,  and  he  was  exceedingly  fond  of 
Buckingham,  Windebanke,  and  Strafford  ;  but  with  respect 
to  the  two  kings,  James  I.  and  Charles  I.,  while  it  is  certain 

1  Diary,  p.  23.  '2  16.  3  Ib.,  pp.  24-5. 


j,  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 17 

that  to  each  he  was  a  faithful  servant,  the  extent  of  his 
affection,  apart  from  his  loyal  devotion,  is  not  quite  so  easy 
to  gauge ;  although,  on  the  whole,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  it  was  very  considerable  in  the  case  of  Charles. 

If  Laud  was  open  to  the  charge  of  being  usually  absent 
from  his  diocese,  he  certainly  was  not  guilty  of  laziness 
about  preaching.  There  are  constant  entries  in  his  Diary  as 
to  sermons.  "  I  Preached  at  Carmarthen  ;  "  "  I  Preached  at 
Honye-Lacye ;"  "I  Preached  at  Hurst;"  and,  again,  "I 
Preached  at  Hurst  upon  Christmas  day ; "  and  so  on. 

On  the  first  day  of  1626,  he  was  at  Hampton  Court. 
Everything  had  not  gone  quite  smoothly  in  the  royal  family 
since  he  had  been  last  at  court.  And  now  it  is  my  purpose 
to  try  to  prove  for  him  an  alibi. 

It  is  well  known  that  Charles  guaranteed  to  the  queen  the 
free  practise  of  her  religion,  a  chapel  for  her  private  use  in  the 
royal  palaces,  and  the  privilege  of  her  attendant  confessor, 
and  chaplains  :  it  is  equally  notorious,  that  within  six  weeks 
of  her  arrival  in  England,  her  confessor,  the  Abbe"  Sancy,  was 
sent  back  to  France  by  the  king,  and  that  the  latter 
endeavoured  to  reduce  her  chapel  and  her  religious  privileges 
within  the  narrowest  possible  limits.  At  Whitehall,  instead 
of  a  handsome  room  for  her  oratory,  she  was  only  allowed 
"the  most  retired  chamber  in  the  palace."1  At  her  first 
mass,  "  the  queen,  at  eleven  o'clock,  came  out  of  her  chamber 
in  a  petticoat,  and  with  a  veil  over  her  head,  supported  by 
the  Count  de  Filliers,  her  chamberlain,  followed  by  six  of  her 
women,  and  the  mass  was  mumbled  over.  Whilst  they  were 
at  mass,  the  king  gave  orders  that  no  Englishman  or  woman 
should  come  near  the  place."  '  The  same  authority  tells  us 
that  when  pressed  for  better  accommodation,  the  king  re 
plied  : — "  If  the  queen's  closet,  where  they  now  say  mass,  be 
not  large  enough,  let  them  have  it  in  the  great  chamber ;  and 
if  the  great  chamber  be  not  wide  enough,  they  may  use  the 
garden  ;  and  if  the  garden  were  not  spacious  enough  to  serve 
their  turn,  then  was  the  park  the  fittest  place."  It  is,  how- 

1  Strickland's  "Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Eng.,"  vol.  viii.  p.  32 
Ellis's  "  Historical  Letters." 


ii8  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

ever,  but  fair  to  say,  that  among  the  State  Papers  l  exists  a 
"  Warrant  to  pay  Daniel  du  Plessis,  Bishope  of  Mende,  chief 
Almoner  to  the  Queen,  ^2000  a  year  " — a  large  sum  in  those 
times — "  for  charges  incident  to  the  Queen's  chapel  and 
oratory,  and  all  ecclesiastical  persons  and  servitors  belonging 
to  the  same."  The  question  is,  Was  it  paid  ? 

Charles,  in  fact,  became  very  soon  tired  of  the  French 
priests  and  all  the  Monsieurs,  or  "  Monsers  "  as  he  called 
them.  He  wrote  to  Buckingham,  who  was  then  abroad,  of 
"  the  maliciousness  of  the  monsers,  by  making  and  fomenting 
discontentments  in  my  wife.  I  could  tarry  no  longer  from 
advertising  you  that  I  mean  to  seek  for  no  other  grounds  to 
cashier  my  monsers.  That  you  may  (if  you  think  good) 
advertise  the  queen  mother  " — this,  of  course,  was  Marie  de 
Medicis — "of  my  intention." 

Now  it  might  not  unnaturally  be  supposed  that  Laud, 
being  jealous  of  the  presence  of  foreign  and  Catholic 
ecclesiastics  about  the  court,  influenced  the  king  against 
them  and  induced  him  to  send  them  all  back  to  France, 
Bishops,  Confessors,  "  Monsers,"  "  Bugges,"  and  the  whole 
company  ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  being  presented  to  the 
queen  with  the  rest  of  the  bishops  who  happened  to  be  at  the 
time  in  London,  and  spending  part  of  two  days  at  Windsor, 
and  a  few  days  at  Oxford,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
near  the  court  for  six  months,  and  it  is  probable  that  when 
he  was  at  Oxford,  the  king  would  spend  most  of  his  time  at 
Woodstock.  More  than  half  of  the  first  six  months  of  the 
king's  married  life  was  spent  by  Laud  in  Wales,  or  on  his 
journey  to  or  from  it ;  about  seven  weeks  of  it  he  spent  at 
Windebank's,  and  part  of  it  in  London,  while  the  royal 
family  were  at  Hampton  Court.  On  the  day  that  King 
Charles  wrote  his  angry  letter  to  Buckingham,  threatening 
to  cashier  the  "  monsers,"  Laud  was  in  Herefordshire.  I 
think  this  makes  it  pretty  clear  that  to  whatever  extent 
Charles  may  afterwards  have  been  guided  by  Laud,  he 
acted  independently  of  him  for  the  first  half-year  of  his 
married  life.  Whether  Laud  encouraged  the  king  in  his 

]  "Domestic  Sta.  Pa.,"  vol.  iv.  July  20,  1625. 


^t.  53-1  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 19 

dislike  of  priests  and  French  people,  or  not,  is  another 
question  ;  but,  to  my  mind,  there  is  evidence,  or  to  say  the 
least,  an  alibi,  in  support  of  the  theory  that  he  did  not 
engender  it. 

As  to  the  queen  herself,  Laud  was  actually  charged,  at  his 
trial,  of  having  been  an  instrument  in  her  hands,  instead  of  an 
enemy.  All  that  he  himself  admitted  was  that: — "Upon 
occasion  of  some  Service  done,  she  was  graciously  pleased  to 
give  me  leave  to  have  immediate  Access  unto  her,  when  I  had 
Occasion."  1  Upon  the  whole,  the  queen  and  he  appear  to 
have  lived  upon  very  good  terms  with  each  other.  Possibly 
he  might  have  been  more  popular  if  he  had  been  less  in 
timate  with  her.  From  the  first,  Henrietta  Maria  and  her 
French  retinue  were  looked  on  with  suspicion,  if  not  with 
absolute  dislike,  by  the  majority  of  the  English.  Chamberlain 
wrote  to  Carleton  2  of  "  the  Queen's  train,  poor  pitiful  women, 
not  worth  looking  after,"  and  of  one  of  them  in  particular, 
the  Duchess  of  Chevreuse,  that  she  is  "  fair,  but  paints  foully." 
He  then  proceeds  to  say  that  "  they  begin  to  mutter  about 
religion,  and  the  king  having  promised  that  he  would  never 
marry  with  conditions  derogatory  to  protestantism.  Com 
plaints  of  ill  management,  &c." 

One  day  after  Laud  had  rejoined  the  court,  Sunday,  the 
first  of  January  1626,  he  was  named  with  other  bishops  to 
consult  together  on  the  following  Wednesday,  at  Whitehall, 
concerning  the  ceremonies  to  be  used  at  the  approaching 
coronation.  At  the  same  time,  he  heard  a  piece  of  news  that 
did  not  please  him,  which  was  that  "  the  bigger  part  of  the 
Bishop  of  Durham's  House  was  appointed  for  the  Residence 
of  the  Ambassadour  Extraordinary  of  France"  3  Now  Laud 
"  had  abode  as  a  Guest  for  Four  Years  compleat "  at  this 
very  house  with  his  "  good  Friend  the  Bishop  of  Durham"  and 
the  new  arrangement  not  only  obliged  him  to  turn  out,  but 
"  forced  "  him  "  to  make  over  much  haste  "  in  so  doing.  On 
the  Tuesday  he  "  fixed  "  himself  at  his  "  own  House  at  West 
minster  "  ;  his  servant  having  already  brought  all  his  things 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  382. 

2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1625-6,  p.  48.  8  Diary,  p.  25. 


1 20  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [circa^e. 

there,  "  save  only  "  his  books,  and  the  fetching  of  these,  and 
placing  "  them  in  order  in  "  his  "  Study "  appears  to  have 
fussed  and  worried  him  not  a  little. 

When  the  bishops  met  to  arrange  the  ceremonies  for  the 
coronation,  they  examined  the  service-book  used  at  that  of 
King  James,  and  "were  fain  to  mend  many  slips  of  the  Pen, 
to  make  Sense  in  some  places,  and  good  English  in  other. 
And  the  Book  being  trusted  with  me,  I  had  Reason  to  do  it 
with  my  own  Hand." *  This  afterwards  gave  rise  to  the 
accusation  against  Laud  of  having  tampered  with  the 
coronation  service  and  made  it  more  Popish. 

The  same  night,  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  Pembroke,  came 
to  Laud  with  an  order  from  the  king  to  preach  a  month  later 
at  the  opening  of  Parliament.  There  was  another  meeting  of 
bishops  about  the  ceremonial  for  the  coronation,  and  Abbott, 
the  archbishop,  had  the  task — an  ungrateful  one  to  such  an 
enemy  of  Laud's — of  informing  him  that  it  was  the  king's  wish 
that  he  should  act  at  the  ceremony  instead  of  the  Dean  of 
Westminster,  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  whose  presence  on 
the  occasion  his  Majesty  refused  to  tolerate  ;  for,  as  I  observed 
in  a  former  chapter,  Williams  had  got  into  disgrace  when 
Lord  Keeper.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  took  Laud  to  the 
king  to  show  him  the  notes  and  alterations  that  had  been 
made  in  the  office  for  the  consecration.  He  says,  himself: — 
"The  other  Bishops  sent  me,  being  Puny,  to  give  the 
Account."  Whether  puny  or  not,  every  private  interview  he 
had  with  the  king  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  increasing  his 
intimacy  with,  and  influence  over,  him. 

Two  days  before  the  coronation,  the  king  not  only  summoned 
the  bishops  and  peers  that  were  to  take  part  in  the  ceremony, 
but  also  had  the  regalia  brought  for  his  inspection.  Then 
they  seem  to  have  had  a  sort  of  private  rehearsal.  Charles 
"  put  on  St  Edward's  Tunicks,"  and  made  Laud  "  read  the 
Kubricks  of  direction."  2 

Representing  the  Dean  of  Westminster,  it  fell  to  Laud  to 
make  all  the  arrangements  in  the  abbey.  "  Finding  the  old 
Crucifix  among  the  Regalia,  he  caused  it  to  be  placed  on 

1  "  Hist,  of  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  321.  2  Diary,  p.  27. 


jCt.53-1  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  121 

the  Altar,  as  in  former  times ; " 1  says  Heylin,  and  this  was 
urged  against  him  by  his  enemies  many  years  later,  when  he 
appears  to  have  forgotten  it.  "  They  say,"  writes  Laud, 
"  there  was  a  Crucifix  among  the  Regalia,  and  that  it  stood 
upon  the  Altar  at  the  Coronation,  and  that  I  did  not 
except  against  it."  "I  remember  not  any  there."2  Laud 
was  also  accused  of  altering  the  coronation  oath,  by  adding 
the  words — "  agreeable  to  the  King's  Prerogative,"  and 
omitting  : — "  which  the  People  have  chosen,  or  shall  choose." 
To  this  he  replied  that  if  any  alteration  were  made  in  it  at  all, 
it  was  certainly  not  made  by  him,  and  that  the  oath  was 
tendered,  not  by  himself,  but  by  Abbott,  then  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury. 

The  coronation  of  Charles  I.  was  destined  to  bring  trouble 
to  another  person  besides  Laud.  This  was  the  queen. 
Henrietta  Maria  refused  to  be  crowned  by  an  heretical  arch 
bishop.  The  bishop  she  had  with  her  claimed  the  right  of 
.crowning  her  ;  but  this  Abbott,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
would  not  allow. 3  Finding  that  she  was  not  to  be  persuaded, 
the  king  tried  to  induce  her  to  be  present  within  the  abbey, 
without  taking  part  in  the  ceremony.  When  she  refused  this 
also,  he  begged  her,  at  least,  to  attend  in  a  latticed  box, 4  so 
placed  that  she  could  not  herself  be  seen  ;  but  she  positively 
refused  to  be  present  in  the  abbey  at  all.  Instead  of  doing 
so,  according  to  Miss  Strickland,  she  watched  the  proces 
sion,  both  going  and  coming,  from  the  bay  window  of  the  old 
gate-house,  which  formerly  stood  over  the  roadway  leading 
from  Whitehall  to  the  abbey— Sir  B.  Rudyerd  writes  to 
Nethersole  that  she  "stood  in  a  window  at  Sir  Abraham 
Williams's,  to  see  the  show " ; 5  but  he  may  have  lived  in 
this  part  of  Whitehall — and  it  was  said  that  as  the  pompous 
procession  took  its  stately  way  from  the  palace  of  Whitehall, 
the  queen's  French  ladies-in-waiting  were  seen  frisking  and 
frolicing  around  her  in  the  window  from  which  they  were,  so 

i  "  Cyp.  Angl.,"  p.  148.          -  "  Hist,  of  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  L.,"  p.  318. 

3  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1625-6,  p.  225. 

4  Strickland's  "Queens  of  Eng.,"  vol  viii.  p.  37. 
8  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1625-6,  p.  246. 


122  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [arcane. 

to  speak,  watching  the  fun,  with  no  outward  signs  of  reverence. 
This  was  not  calculated  to  send  Charles  to  the  great  function 
in  the  best  of  tempers,  or  with  the  happiest  of  hearts. 

Everything  else,  however,  seems  to  have  gone  well.  Here 
is  the  account  of  the  ceremony  in  Laud's  Diary  : — "  The  King 
entred  the  Abby-Church  a  little  before  Ten  a  Clock  ;  and  it 
was  past  Three,  before  he  went  out  of  it.  It  was  a  very 
Bright  Sun-shining  Day.  The  Solemnity  being  ended,  in  the 
great  Hall  at  Westminster,  when  the  King  delivered  into  my 
hands  the  Regalia,  which  are  kept  in  the  Abby-Church  of 
Westminster,  he  did  (which  had  not  before  been  done)  deliver 
to  me  the  Sword  called  Curtana,  and  two  others,  which  had 
been  carried  before  the  King  that  day,  to  be  Kept  in  the 
Church,  together  with  the  other  Regalia.  I  returned,  and 
Offered  them  Solemnly  at  the  Altar  in  the  Name  of  the  King, 
and  laid  them  up  with  the  rest." 

This  was  an  opportunity  for  one  of  those  little  functions, 
not  provided  for  in  the  Anglican  Liturgy,  which  Laud  so 
much  enjoyed ;  but  the  solemn  offering  of  the  sword 
"  Curtana,  and  two  others,"  was  charged  against  him  as  a 
serious  crime,  some  eighteen  years  afterwards. 

"  In  so  great  a  Ceremony,"  he  continues,  "  and  amidst  an 
incredible  concourse  of  People,  nothing  was  lost,  or  broke,  or 
disordered."  And  he  presently  adds,  with  evident,  and  per 
haps  justifiable,  pride  at  his  own  good  management,  that  he 
"  heard  some  of  the  Nobility  saying  to  the  King  in  their 
return,  that  they  never  had  seen  any  Solemnity,  although 
much  less,  performed  with  so  little  Noise,  and  so  great 
Order." 

It  must  have  been  bitter  to  Williams,  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  to  hear  how  successfully  his  rival  had  filled  his  place 
at  the  king's  coronation.  A  few  days  after  it,  he  wrote  to 
Charles,  saying  that  "  the  King's  gracious  speeches  to  him 
when  he  took  his  leave,  and  his  own  conscious  innocence, 
have  comforted  him  in  the  affliction  of  being  enjoined  from 
his  Majesty's  presence — the  only  Heaven  wherein  his  soul 
delights,"  *  and  he  added  that  he  had  endured  with  patience 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1625-6,  p.  249. 


jEt.53-1  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  123 

"  his  sequestration  from  the  coronation  ; "  more  abject  still, 
and  exceedingly  impious,  is  a  sentence  in  the  same  letter,  in 
which  he  describes  himself  as  "  a  poor  Bishop  who  has  ever 
honoured  his  Majesty's  person  above  all  objects  in  the  world 
to  come." 

Williams  must  have  been  reminded  that  he  was  not  the 
only  Lord  Keeper  who  had  got  into  trouble,  by  the  death, 
about  that  time,  of  Francis  Bacon,  Viscount  St  Albans,  who 
had  been  sentenced  to  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  .£40,000 
for  corruption  and  bribery  while  holding  that  very  office, 
some  half  dozen  years  earlier.  Of  Bacon,  Laud's  biographer, 
Heylin,  writes,  that  he  was  "  a  man  of  good  and  bad  qualities 
equally  compounded,  one  of  a  most  strong  brain,  and  a 
Chymical  head." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

As  the  year  1626  progressed,  Laud  was  more  and  more  with 
King  Charles.  Within  a  month  of  the  coronation,  he  heard 
that  the  king  had  had  an  alarming  fall : — "  Feb.  27.  Munday, 
The  Danger  which  hapened  to  King  Charles  from  his  Horse  ; 
which  having  broken  the  two  Girts  of  the  Saddle,  and  the 
Saddle  together  with  the  Rider  fallen  together  under  his 
Belly,  stood  trembling,  until  the  King,  having  received  no 
hurt,  &c.}>1  This  does  not  say  very  much  for  the  evenness  of 
the  balance  of  Charles  I.  in  his  saddle,  and  it  reminds  me  of 
a  criticism  of  his  horsemanship  to  the  effect  that  "  he  did  not 
ride  like  a  Prince  but  like  a  post-boy."  2 

If  he  was  disposed  to  be  guided  by  Laud,  the  king  was 
not  wholly  bishop-ridden.  In  April  he  sent  for  all  the 
bishops  that  were  in  London  to  come  to  him  at  four  o'clock 
one  afternoon.  Fourteen  came,  and  then,  says  Laud,  "his 
Majesty  chid  us,  that  in  this  time  of  Parliament  we  were 
silent  in  the  Cause  of  the  Church,  and  did  not  make  known 
to  him  what  might  be  Useful,  or  was  Prejudicial  to  the 
Church  ;  professing  himself  ready  to  promote  the  Cause  of 
the  Church." 3 

Very  soon  Charles  had  an  opportunity  of  proving  his  good 
will  towards  Laud,  "  May  4.  Thursday,  Arthur  Lake  Bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells  Died  at  London" 4  The  bishopric  thus 
made  vacant  was  much  more  valuable  than  St  David's,  and, 
on  the  20th  of  June,  Laud  tells  us  "His  Majesty  King 
harles  named  me  to  be  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells"  Two 
months  later  he  was  "elected";  on  the  i8th  of  September, 

Diary,  p.  29. 

2  "  Life  of  Charles  I.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  114.     D'Israeli  calls  the  man  who  said  this 
'  a  coarse  libeller. " 

3  Diary,  p.  32.  *  /£.,  p.  33. 

124 


S£a53'.626-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  125 

his  election  was  confirmed,  and  the  next  day  he  swore 
homage  to  his  Majesty  "who  there  presently  restored  to  me 
the  Temporalities,  from  the  death  of  my  Predecessor."  *  Of 
these  "  temporalities  "  the  Crown  would  get  its  share.  Among 
the  State  Papers  is  a  "  grant  to  Bishop  Laud  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  of  the  instalment  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  said 
Bishopric,  to  be  paid  by  him  in  four  years."2 

So  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  he  never  visited  his  diocese  of 
Bath  and  Wells ;  and  he  did  not  hold  the  bishopric  for  more 
than  about  eight  months.  Buckingham  persuaded  the  king 
to  appoint  a  man  named  Theophilus  Field  to  St  David's  in 
the  place  of  Laud,  and  the  new  bishop  said,  or  wrote,  to  his 
predecessor,  Laud,  that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  behaved 
remarkably  like  the  Almighty,  who  "very  oft,  as  he  passeth 
by  and  seems  to  turn  from  us,  leaves  a  blessing  behind." 3 

Laud's  election  to  the  bishopric  of  Bath  and  Wells  had 
only  been  confirmed  eight  days,  when  another  great  post  was 
offered  to  him.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  came  to  him  on 
the  last  day  of  September,  and  told  him  that  the  king  had 
determined  to  make  him  Dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  in  the 
place  of  the  Bishop  of  Winchester.  "  It  never  rains,  but  it 
pours,"  and,  a  couple  of  days  later,  the  duke  hinted  to  him 
that,  if  Abbott  should  die,  the  king  intended  to  make  him 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury ! 

Laud  was  not  deterred  by  the  promise  of  royal  favours  from 
doing  what  he  believed  to  be  his  duty,  and  within  six  weeks 
of  his  appointment  to  the  Deanery  of  the  Chapel  Royal, 
he  ventured  to  tutor  King  Charles  in  a  style  from  which 
probably  every  other  prelate  in  England  would  have  flinched. 

"  Taking  occasion,"  he  says,  "  from  the  abrupt  both 
beginning  and  ending  of  Publick  Prayer  on  the  fifth  of 
November,  I  desired  his  Majesty  King  Charles,  that  he 
would  please  to  be  present  at  Prayers  as  well  as  Sermon 
every  Sunday;" — surely  even  most  country  squires  would 
have  objected  to  be  lectured  like  this  ! — "  and  that  at  what 
soever  part  of  the  Prayers  he  came,  the  Priest  then  officiating 

1  Diary,  p.  33.  2  Domestic,  Appendix,  1626,  Nov.  8. 

3  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1627-8,  Preface,  p.  16. 


126  Life  of  Archbishop  Laitd.  tcircaieae. 

might  proceed  to  the  end  of  the  Prayers."  Charles  must 
have  taken  the  first  suggestion  very  meekly,  or  Laud  would 
not  have  dared  to  proceed  to  the  second.  Nothing,  however, 
succeeds  like  success,  as  the  saying  goes,  and  "the  most 
Religious  King  not  only  assented  to  this  Request ;  but  also 
gave  me  thanks."  In  short,  he  kissed  the  rod.  u  This  had 
not  before  been  done  from  the  beginning  of  K.  James's  Reign 
to  this  day.  Now,  thanks  be  to  God,  it  obtaineth." 1 

Laud's  influence  and  importance,  in  the  September  of  this 
year,  is  demonstrated  by  a  little  incident  recorded  in  the 
Domestic  State  Papers.2  The  king  had  written  to  Abbott 
and  others,  commissioning  them  "  to  require  and  collect  a 
loan  for  the  King's  use  from  persons  able  to  lend,  or  dwelling 
within  the  County  of  Middlesex,"  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
desired  that  Abbott  should  urge  the  other  bishops  to  make 
similar  endeavours  in  their  own  dioceses.  Abbott  wrote 
to  Secretary  Conway,  and  consulted  him  as  to  the  king's 
pleasure  with  regard  to  the  method  of  communicating  with 
the  bishops,  as  it  would  be  undesirable  that  papers  detailing 
so  delicate  a  matter  should  "  fall  into  the  hands  of  ill  willers 
as  well  as  of  those  that  wish  well."  The  very  next  day, 
Conway  sent  the  archbishop's  letter  to  the  very  last  man  to 
whom  he  would  have  wished  it  to  be  referred,  namely,  Laud, 
and  asked  his  opinion  of  it.  The  same  evening  Laud  sent 
his  answer.  "  Thinks  the  instructions,  which  are  to  be  sent 
to  every  minister,  should  be  printed  ;  that  they  should  be  in 
the  form  of  a  little  book ;  that  a  charge  should  be  given  to 
the  printer  for  secrecy,  and  the  like  to  the  ministers  who 
receive  them,  and  to  the  officers  who  deliver  them."  When 
Abbott  asked  Conway  what  was  the  "king's  pleasure,"  he 
most  certainly  did  not  intend  to  inquire  what  was  Laud's 
pleasure;  but  so  far  as  the  pleasure  of  the  king  was  concerned, 
it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Conway  would  have  referred  the 
matter  to  Laud,  unless  Charles  had  expressly  desired  that 
he  should  do  so.  Curiously  enough,  Conway  consulted  him 
on  the  very  day  that  Buckingham  informed  him  that  he  was 
to  be  made  Dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal. 

1  Diary,  pp.  36-7.  2  Vol. 


^t.  53-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  127 

Laud's  gratification  at  his  own  rapid  advancement  must 
have  been  qualified  by  the  death  of  Lancelot  Andrews,  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  whom  he  succeeded  as  Dean  of  the  Chapel 
Royal.  It  was  in  recording  his  death  in  his  Diary,  that  he 
wrote  of  him  as  "  the  great  Light  of  the  Christian  World." 
Indeed  Laud  may  be  said  to  have  been  rather  a  disciple 
of  Andrews,  than  the  originator  of  what  are  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  "  Laudian  views." 

Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  seems  to  have  "  pitifully, 
and  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  Church  of  England, 
signified  to  the  King "  1  that  certain  papers  written  by 
Andrews  " concerning  Bishops,  that  they  are  Jure  Divino" 
ought  not  to  be  printed,  and  Laud  went  to  Charles  and 
persuaded  him  to  the  contrary. 

If  all  was  prospering  now  with  Laud,  not  so  with  his 
friend,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  There  was  bitter  enmity 
between  the  latter  and  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  and  both  were 
accused  of  high  treason  in  Parliament,  each  maintaining  that 
the  other  was  guilty  of  it.  There  were  "  perpetual  Heats  in 
the  House  ; "  and  in  May,2  "  King  Charles  came  into  the 
Parliament  House  ;  and  made  a  short  Speech  to  the  Lords, 
concerning  preserving  the  Honour  of  the  Nobility  against 
the  vile  and  malicious  Calumnies  of  those  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  who  had  accused  the  Duke."  Then  he  says  that 
there  were  eight  members  "who  in  this  matter  chiefly 
appeared."  "  The  Prologue,  Sir  Dudley  Digges,  the  Epi 
logue,  John  Elliot,  were  this  day  by  the  King's  Command 
committed  to  the  Tower.  They  were  both  dismissed  thence 
within  a  few  days." 

Laud's  principal  penitent  had  not  of  late  been  living  in 
the  odour  of  sanctity.  When  he  had  gone  to  Paris  to  bring 
the  princess  to  England,  Buckingham  left  his  piety  at  home 
appeared  at  the  French  court  in  a  white  velvet  suit  set  all 
over  with  diamonds,  said  to  be  worth  ^"8o,ooo,3  to  say 
nothing  of  twenty-seven  other  very  rich  suits,  and  made  love 
to  the  young  queen,  Anne  of  Austria. 

Laud  might  well  pray  "  pro  Duce  Buckinghamiae,"  at  this 

1  Diary,  p.  38.         "  //>,.  p.  33.         3  Hardwicke  Papers,  i.  571  ;  Ellis,  iii.iSo. 


128  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  [circa  1627. 

juncture.  Nor  does  his  penitence,  if  he  pretended  any, 
appear  to  have  been  very  genuine ;  for  he  tried  hard  to  get 
another  invitation  to  the  French  court,  and  was  actually 
appointed  ambassador  at  Paris,  but  was  objected  to  by 
Cardinal  Richelieu. 

It  seems  anomalous  to  read  of  one  of  the  king's  ministers 
being  able  to  afford  to  wear  eighty  thousand  pounds  worth 
of  diamonds  at  a  time  when  the  commissioners  at  Plymouth 
were  writing  to  the  Council  of  "  soldiers  forced  to  keep  their 
beds  for  want  of  clothes." l 

Buckingham,  none  the  less,  remained  on  intimate  terms 
with  his  confessor,  and  we  read  of  his  showing  to  him  a 
paper  upon  the  Invocation  of  Saints?  which  had  been  put 
into  his  hands  by  his  Popish  mother.  He  was  made 
Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  on  going 
thither  for  that  purpose,  he  took  his  favourite  bishop  with 
him. 

Laud  writes  : 3 — "  I  was  there  incorporated  ;  and  so  I  was 
the  first  who  was  presented  to  the  most  Illustrious  Duke, 
then  sitting  in  the  Congregation  House.  The  Duke  was 
treated  by  the  University  in  an  Academical  manner,  yet 
splendidly." 

Within  a  fortnight,  Buckingham's  only  son  died — it  will 
be  remembered  that  he  was  born  during  Laud's  second 
visitation  at  St  David's — and  Laud  conducted  the  funeral 
"  about  mid-night  "  on  "  the  Eve  of  Palm-Sunday." 

Laud  carefully  avoids  any  mention  in  his  Diary  of  the 
disputes  between  the  king  and  queen  regarding  her  French 
chaplains  and  attendants  ;  possibly  he  may  not  have  been 
consulted  in  the  matter  ;  but  their  expulsion  can  scarcely 
have  failed  to  be  gratifying  to  him.  It  is  needless  to  repeat 
the  well-known  story,  recounted  by  the  king  himself,  of  the 
family  row  and  curtain-lecture,  which  took  place  one  night 
when  the  royal  couple  were  "  a-bed  ; "  or  to  describe  how  all 
the  queen's  French  attendants  were  sent  to  Somerset  House, 
and  eventually  to  their  native  land.  "  Force  them  away, 

1   "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1625-6,  p.  227. 
2  Laud's  Diary,  p.  37.  3  /£.,  p.  39. 


j£t.54-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  129 

dryve  them  away,  lyke  so  manie  wylde  beastes  ;  and  so  the 
devill  goe  with  them  "  was  the  royal  order.1  Bassompierre, 
who  came  to  England  as  ambassador  extraordinary,  smoothed 
down  the  ruffled  feathers  of  both  the  king  and  the  queen 
with  wonderful  tact,  and  it  was  arranged  that  Henrietta 
Maria  should  have  a  bishop,  a  confessor  and  his  companion, 
and  ten  chaplains,  provided  they  were  neither  Jesuits  nor 
Oratorians  (as  a  matter  of  fact  they  were  Capuchins),  and 
arrangements  were  made  with  regard  to  her  chapels.  Bassom 
pierre  also  obtained  the  release  of  all  the  English  priests, 
seventeen  in  number,  who  were  at  that  time  imprisoned  for 
their  religion  in  London.  I  may  take  this  opportunity  of 
saying  that  the  English  translation  of  the  Bassompierre 
papers  describing  his  experiences  in  this  country,  accom 
panied  as  it  is  by  voluminous  notes,  forms  an  interesting 
and  amusing  little  volume,  which  should  be  read  by  every 
student  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 

Instead  of  being  complimented  for  his  skilful  manage 
ment,  on  his  return  to  France,  Bassompierre  was  very  coldly 
received  by  Louis  XIII.,  who  intimated  that  he  had  com 
promised  the  dignity  of  his  nation  by  not  insisting  upon 
the  full  performance  of  the  articles  of  the  marriage  between 
Charles  and  Henrietta  Maria,  and  it  was  even  hinted  among 
the  courtiers  that  the  ambassador  had  either  been  hood 
winked  by  the  flatteries  of  Buckingham,  or  bribed  by  the 
presents  of  King  Charles.  Some  historians,  Lingard 2 
among  others,  doubt  whether  Louis's  displeasure  was  real  or 
assumed ;  it  is  certain  that  he  did  not  repudiate  the  terms 
made  by  his  envoy ;  but  when  the  latter  requested  that 
Buckingham  might  be  allowed  to  return  to  Paris,  he  refused 
point  blank,  with  haste  and  indignation. 

The  irritation  felt  by  the  French  king  at  the  dismissal,  by 
his  royal  brother-in-law,  of  his  sister's  chaplains  and  servants 
was  increased  by  Charles's  ostentatious  promises  of  protection 
to  Louis  the  Thirteenth's  Protestant  subjects.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten,  of  course,  that  the  English  Parliament  was  very 
jealous  of  the  admission  of  Catholic  priests  to  the  English 

1  Ellis,  iii.  p.  224.  '2  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  iv. 

I 


130  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  [Circai627. 

court  and  of  the  relaxation  of  the  penal  laws  against  English 
Catholics.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  Charles  con 
sidered  himself  defrauded  by  the  French  of  the  alliance, 
defensive  and  offensive,  which  he  had  expected  to  be  ratified 
after  his  marriage  with  the  sister  of  the  King  of  France.  The 
ill-feeling  continued  on  both  sides,  but  it  for  the  first  time 
took  a  practical  form  when  Charles  declared  himself  the 
champion  of  the  liberties  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  and 
sent  Buckingham  in  command  of  a  fleet  of  forty-two  ships 
of  war,  thirty-four  transports,  an  army  of  seven  regiments 
of  nine  hundred  men  each  and  a  squadron  of  cavalry,  to  the 
coast  of  France. 

On  the  eve  of  the  start  of  this  expedition,  Laud  accom 
panied  "  King  Charles  from  London  to  Southwick  by  Ports 
mouth,"  and,  with  his  Majesty,  "  dined  a-board  the  Triumph." l 
To  have  his  king  and  his  confessor  on  board  his  ship  must 
have  inspirited  Buckingham,  before  sailing  with  his  fleet. 

Not  long  before  he  went  with  the  king  to  visit  Bucking 
ham  on  board  ship,  Laud  had  been  made  a  Privy  Councillor 
—a  great  step  in  power,  and  he  himself  writes  of  it : — "  God 
grant,  it  may  conduce  to  his  Honour,  and  to  the  good  of  the 
Kingdom  and  the  Church."  '2 

But  a  still  further  advancement  befell  him  while  he  was 
with  the  king  at  Southwick,  superintending  the  despatch  of 
the  fleet  and  army.  "  The  Bishoprick  of  London  was  granted 
me,"  he  writes.  With  this  appointment  came  a  great  in 
crease  in  his  influence,  together  with  a  proportionate  addition 
to  his  unpopularity.  He  was  now  both  feared  and  hated. 

It  is  melancholy  to  find  a  letter  from  the  Duchess  of 
Buckingham  to  her  husband,  written  only  a  few  days  before 
he  sailed,  begging  him  not  to  deceive  her  and  to  love  her 
only.  She  tells  him  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  any 
woman  to  love  a  man  more  than  she  loves  him. 3  He  had 
promised  her  that  he  would  not  undertake  the  expedition  at 
all,  and  when  he  had  broken  this  promise,  he  made  another 
to  go  and  bid  her  farewell,  which  he  also  broke. 

Here  are  a  few  modernised  quotations  from  another  letter 

1  Diary,  p.  41.         '2  Jb.         3  "Dom.  Sta.  Pa.,  Charles  I.,"  vol.  Ixvii.,  No.  60. 


^Et.  54.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  1  3  r 

which  she  wrote  to  her  pious  husband,  just  about  the  time 
that  he  had  got  his  confessor  at  the  port  from  which  he  was 
to  embark,  and  in  the  ship  in  which  he  was  to  sail.  "  I  have 
been  a  very  miserable  woman  hitherto,  that  could  never  keep 
you  at  home.  But  now  I  will  ever  look  to  be  so,  until  some 
blessed  occasion  comes  to  draw  you  quite  from  the  Court." 
"  God,  of  his  mercy,  give  me  patience,  and  if  I  were  sure  my 
soul  would  be  well,  I  could  wish  myself  to  be  out  of  this 
miserable  world."  "  Never  whilst  I  live  will  I  trust  you 
again,  nor  never  will  put  you  to  your  oath  for  anything  again. 
I  wonder  why  you  sent  me  word  by  Crow  "  (Treasurer  of  the 
Navy,  who  had  formerly  been  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Purse  to 
the  Duke)  "  that  you  would  see  me  shortly,  to  put  me  in  new 
hopes  ;  I  pray  God  never  woman  may  love  a  man  as  I  have 
done  you,  that  none  feel  that  which  I  have  done  for  you." 

Of  course  there  was  a  P.S.,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
she  writes,  "  Burn  this,  for  God's  sake."  What  would  have 
been  the  poor  woman's  feelings  had  she  krjown  that,  instead 
of  being  burned,  it  would  be  docketted  among  the  National 
State  Papers,  where  v/e  find  it  more  than  two  hundred  and 
sixty  years  after  it  was  written,  to  say  nothing  of  its  being 
printed  and  published  in  the  Calendar  ? 

Before  Buckingham's  fleet  weighed  anchor,  "  We,"  the  king 
and  Laud,  "came  to  London"  and  two  days  later,  Laud 
received  the  royal  command  "  to  go  all  the  Progress."  In 
five  days,  "  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  set  forwards  towards  the 
Isle  of  Ree"  and  in  three  more,  "  the  Progress  began  to  Oat- 
lands."  Laud  accompanied  the  king,  and  mentions  his  losing 
a  jewel,  worth  ;£iooo,  out  hunting. 

On  the  seventh  of  July,  he  made  the  following  curious 
entry  in  his  Diary  :  —  "  Saturday-niglit,  I  dreamed  that  I  had 
lost  two  Teeth.  The  Duke  of  BuckingJiam  took  the  Isle  of 


Presently  four  entries  relating  to  the  Duke  and  his  expedi 
tion  come  in  succession  :  —  July  29.  The  first  News  came 
from  my  Lord  Duke  of  his  Success  :  Sunday,  August  12. 
The  second  News  came  from  my  Lord  Duke  to  Windsor  : 
Sunday,  August  26.  The  third  News  came  from  my  Lord 


132  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  [Circai627. 

to  Aldershot :   Sunday,   September.       News  came  from  my 
Lord  Duke  to  Theobalds  :  The  first  fear  of  ill  Success  :  " 

Well  might  Laud  have  "  fears  of  ill  success  "  for  his  friend 
and  patron  ;  for  a  French  flotilla  of  fourteen  ships  had  burst 
through  the  boom  and  revictualled  the  fortress,  and  Bucking 
ham,  having  received  a  reinforcement,  ordered  a  general 
assault,  which  failed. 

To  increase  the  despondency  of  Laud,  the  Dean  of  Canter 
bury  not  only  said  to  an  acquaintance  of  his  (who  repeated 
it  to  Laud),  "  that  the  business  could  not  go  well  in  the  Isle 
of  Ree  ;  "  but  added  that  "  there  must  be  a  Parliament,"  and 
that  "  some  must  be  sacrificed  "  to  the  popular  discontent,  and 
that,  among  these,  Laud  "  was  as  like  as  any."  Laud  also 
heard  that  "  Sir  Dudlye  Diggs"  whom  it  will  be  remembered 
the  king  had  lately  sent  to  the  Tower  for  censuring  Bucking 
ham  in  the  House  of  Commons,  had  made  a  similar  remark. 

In  October,  Laud  makes  the  melancholy  entry : — "  The 
Retreat  out  of  the  Isle  of  Ree." 

Buckingham  had  determined  to  withdraw  his  troops. 
There  was,  however,  a  French  corps  between  his  own  camp 
and  the  place  of  embarkation,  and  in  order  to  reach  the  sea 
he  was  obliged  to  march  along  a  narrow  causeway  across 
the  marshes  to  a  bridge,  which  connected  the  little  island 
of  Oie  with  the  larger  one  of  Rhe.  He  sent  his  small  body 
of  cavalry  to  cover  his  retreat;  but  it  was  broken  up  by  the 
French,  consequently  the  confusion  and  slaughter  on  the 
causeway  was  terrible.  Buckingham,  it  was  said,  lost  twelve 
hundred  men  in  the  course  of  the  day ;  but  he  managed  to 
embark  the  remains  of  his  army,  and  he  displayed  con 
siderable  personal  courage,  being  the  last  man  to  leave  the 
shore. 

Laud  reports,  "  My  Lord  Duke's  return  to  Court,"  if  with 
sadness  at  the  failure  of  his  expedition,  no  doubt  with  joy  at 
his  return.  His  friend,  patron,  and  penitent  received  a  letter 
from  his  duchess  after  his  arrival,  beginning  : — "  My  Lord, 
Since  I  heard  the  news  of  your  landing,  I  have  been  still  every 
hour  looking  for  you,  that  I  cannot  now  till  I  see  you,  sleep 
at  nights,  &c.,"  and  ending  with  "your  true  loving  and  obedient 


^t.54-1  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  133 

wife."  l  He  also  received  a  letter  from  his  Romanist  mother, 
who  had  tried  to  tempt  his  pure  soul  to  Popery  with  a  tract 
on  the  Invocation  of  Saints.  She  says,  "  at  your  departure 
from  me,  you  told  me  you  went  to  make  peace,  but  it  was  not 
from  your  heart."  You  "  embroil  the  whole  Christian  world 
in  wars,  and  then  declare  it  for  religion."  "  You  know  the 
worthy  King  your  Master  never  liked  that  way."  "  God  hath 
blessed  you  with  a  virtuous  wife  and  sweet  daughter,  with 
another  son,  I  hope,  if  you  do  not  destroy  it  by  this  way  you 
take  ;  she  cannot  believe  a  word  you  speak,  you  have  so  much 
deceived  her."  ^ 

So  much  for  Laud's  pious  convert,  saved  from  Fisher,  his 
mother,  and  "  Romanism."  And  this  may  be  a  favourable 
opportunity  for  quoting  a  curious  entry  from  Laud's  Diary,3 
especially  as  it  was  made  during  the  period  dealt  with  in  this 
chapter.  It  runs : — March  8,  Thursday,  I  came  to  London. 
The  Night  following  I  dreamed,  that  I  was  reconciled  to  the 
Church  of  Rome.  This  troubled  me  much  ;  and  I  wondered 
exceedingly,  how  it  should  happen.  Nor  was  I  aggrieved 
with  my  self  only  by  Reason  of  the  Errors  of  that  Church, 
but  also  upon  account  of  the  Scandal,  which  from  that  my 
fall,  would  be  cast  upon  many  Eminent  and  Learned  Men 
in  the  Church  of  England" 

1  S.P.O.  Dom.  Charles  L,  vol.  Ixxxiv.  No.  So. 
2  /#.,  vol.  Ixxxv.  No.  22.  P.  39. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

LAUD  and  Abbott  were  destined  to  be  ever  in  conflict.  A 
certain  Dr  Sibthorpe  preached  a  sermon  at  Northampton  to 
prove  the  legality  of  a  forced  loan.  This,  of  course,  gave 
satisfaction  in  high  places,  and,  in  order  to  give  it  greater 
authority,  the  archbishop  was  asked  to  allow  it  to  be  printed 
with  his  special  license.  Laud,  however,  writes  of  "the 
Exceptions,  which  the  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterbury  had  Ex 
hibited  against  Doctor  Sibthorp's  Sermon."  In  fact,  Abbott 
distinctly  refused  to  give  any  sort  of  imprimatur  to  it.  Laud, 
on  the  contrary,  licensed  it,  to  the  great  gratification  of  the 
king,  who  suspended  and  sequestrated  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  for  refusing  to  do  so,  and  commissioned  the 
Bishops  of  London,  Durham,  Rochester,  Bath  and  Wells, 
and  Oxford,  to  administer  his  archdiocese.  Such  an  act  on 
the  part  of  Charles  I.  was  high-handed  to  the  last  degree, 
and  a  biographer  of  Laud  would  naturally  like  to  know 
whether  he  had  any  part  in  advising  the  king  to  follow  such 
a  course.  We  are  aware  that  Buckingham  was  a  bitter 
enemy  of  Abbott,  and  the  sequestration  might  likely  enough 
have  been  at  his  suggestion,  had  he  not  been  away  from 
England  on  his  expedition  to  the  Isle  of  Rhe,  during  the 
three  months  preceding  the  appointment  of  the  Commission 
of  the  five  bishops  to  execute  archiepiscopal  jurisdiction.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  Abbott's  refusal  was  a  most  uncourtierlike 
step,  and  practically  ruined  him. 

Nor  were  the  inferior  clergy  more  delicately  handled  than 
their  archbishop.  An  order  was  issued  that  no  clergyman 
was  to  make  any  allusion  to  the  ill-fated  expedition  to  the 
Isle  of  Rhe,  a  thing  odious  to  many  of  their  parishioners.1 
One  preacher,  anxious  to  curry  court  favour,  said  in  his 

1  D'Israeli's  "Life  of  Charles  I.,"  vol.  ii.  p.  76. 
134 


'fe  of  A  rchbishop  L  a  ud.  1 3  5 


sermon  that  people  ought  not  to  complain  at  having  to  make 
any  sacrifice  for  his  Majesty,  as  all  they  had  was  "the  King's 
by  divine  right."  The  sermon  was  approved  of  in  the  quarter 
desired,  and  it  was  published  ;  but  the  preacher's  house  was 
burnt  down  by  his  less  loyal  neighbours. 

In  January  1628,  Lord  Carleton  wrote1  to  Laud  from  the 
Hague,  apologising  for  having  in  "  a  previous  letter  con 
gratulated  him  on  some  preferment  which  had  been  errone 
ously  conferred  upon  him  by  rumour."  Very  possibly  this 
may  have  been  the  Archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  on  a 
report  that  Abbott  had  resigned.  He  begs  "  him  to  accept 
the  congratulation  provisionally  until  the  suggested  prefer 
ment  really  falls  upon  him."  Further  on  he  says  that 
Scottish  ministers  have  been  trying  to  introduce  among 
the  English  regiments  in  Holland,  a  liturgy  between  the 
English  and  the  Dutch  ;  and  he  adds  that  the  Hague  "  has 
served  as  a  refuge  for  ministers  who  would  not  conform,  but 
it  is  noways  fit  that  it  should  become  a  nursery  for  non-con 
formists."  Anglican  ecclesiastical  matters  in  Holland  were 
destined  to  give  Laud  some  trouble,  and  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  refer  to  them  by-and-bye. 

Want  of  money  induced  Charles  I.  to  summon  a  Parlia 
ment  early  in  1628.  He  restored  Archbishop  Abbott  to  the 
exercise  of  his  authority  in  order  that  he  might  attend  it, 
and  he  also  set  free  Williams  and  the  Earl  of  Bristol  for  the 
same  purpose.  Laud  preached  at  the  opening.  Six  weeks 
earlier  he  had  had  the  misfortune  to  strain  a  back  sinew  of 
his  right  leg  when  he  was  with  the  king  at  Hampton  Court. 
Of  an  accident  which  had  taken  place  a  few  months  earlier, 
he  had  written  that,  in  getting  out  of  his  coach,  "  my  foot 
stumbling,  I  fell  headlong.  I  never  had  a  more  dangerous 
fall  ;  but  by  God's  mercy,  I  escaped  with  a  light  bruise  of  my 
Hip  only."  2  But  this  back-sinew  affair  was  more  serious.  It 
was  all  he  could  do  to  make  "  a  shift  to  go  and  Christen  my 
Lord  Duke's  Son,  the  Lord  George,  at  Wallingford  House." 
This  was  the  son  whose  expected  arrival  Buckingham's 
mother  had  hinted  at  in  her  letter  quoted  in  the  last 
1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1627-8,  p.  514.  2  Diary,  p.  41. 


136  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  U6*8. 

chapter.  When  he  had  to  preach  at  the  opening  of  Parlia 
ment,  he  "  had  much  ado  to  stand,"  and  he  "  continued  lame 
long  after  "  the  accident. 

The  new  Parliament  not  only  censured  Buckingham,  but 
Laud,  himself,  also.  "  I  was  complained  of  by  the  House  of 
Commons^  he  says,  "  for  warranting  Doctor  Mainwaring's 
Sermons  to  the  Press."  The  House  of  Lords  had  censured 
Dr  Mainwaring  for  a  sermon,  which  it  pronounced  to  be 
"  against  the  liberty  and  propriety  of  the  subject."  Williams 
was  privately  sent  to  Bishop  Montaigne,  who  had  licensed 
the  sermon,  to  inquire  whether  any  warrant  or  message  had 
been  sent  on  the  subject  from  Laud  ;  but  nothing  could  be 
discovered ;  so  Laud  was  eventually  "  acquitted  in  open 
Parliament." 1 

But  the  Commons  had  not  yet  done  with  him.  Later  on 
the  very  same  day,  they  "were  making  their  Remonstrance 
to  the  King,"  as  he  tells  us,  and  one  heading  was  "  Innova 
tion  of  Religion.  Therein  they  Named  my  Lord  Bishop  of 
Winchester  and  my  self."  An  honourable  member  then  got 
up  and  said : — "  Now  we  have  named  these  persons,  let 
us  think  of  some  causes  why  we  did  it."  Whereupon,  Sir 
Edward  Coke  replied  : — "  Have  we  not  named  my  Lord  of 
Buckingham  without  showing  cause,  and  may  we  not  be  as 
bold  with  them  ?  " 

The  hostile  spirit  exhibited  towards  Laud  by  the  Parlia 
ment  may  have  induced  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the 
king  in  favour  of  dispensing  with  it.  The  Commons  were 
evidently  bent  on  his  ruin  ;  the  king  might  possibly  have 
remained  on  his  throne  if  he  had  continued  to  summons  a 
Parliament ;  but  Laud  would  have  fallen.  If  the  long 
interval,  which  presently  followed,  without  a  Parliament  was 
chiefly  owing  to  Laud,  he  certainly  obtained  for  himself  a 
lengthened  period  of  power  and  prosperity  ;  he  assured  for 
himself,  however,  a  terrible  retribution  at  the  end  of  it. 

Laud  also  got  into  trouble  about  this  time  for  the  counte 
nance  he  gave  to  A  Collection  of  Private  Devotions,  or  The 
Hours  of  Prayer,  a  book  written  by  Dr  Cozens,  a  Prebend 

1  "Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryals  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  238. 


at.  55.1  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  1 3 7 

of  Durham.  It  contained  the  "  Seven  Sacraments,  Three 
Theological  Virtues,  Seven  Gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Seven 
Deadly  Sins  and  their  Contrary  Virtues,  Forms  of  Prayer 
for  the  ist,  3rd,  6th,  and  Qth  Hours,  Vespers  and  Compline, 
Preparation  for  Holy  Communion,  &c."  There  could  be  no 
doubt  from  whence  the  "  List  of  Contents  "  of  such  a  book 
had  been  taken,  whatever  its  interior  might  be.  It  was,  in 
fact,  the  forerunner  of  many  Anglican  manuals  of  a  kindred 
nature  which  have  been  published  within  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century.  This  book,  like  Dr  Mainwaring's  sermon,  had  been 
licensed  by  Bishop  Montaigne,  who  might,  therefore,  have 
been  expected  to  be  an  exceedingly  High-Churchman,  and 
orthodox  and  zealous  to  the  backbone ;  but  Heylin  describes 
him  as  "a  man  unactive  and  addicted  to  voluptuousness,  and 
one  that  loved  his  ease  too  much  to  disturb  himself  in  the 
concerns  of  the  Church." l 

This  book  of  devotions  was  published  in  1627,  and  in  1628 
appeared  a  reply  by  Prynne,  entitled  A  Brief  Survey  and 
Censiire  of  Cozens  his  Cozening  Devotions,  declaring  that  book 
to  have  been  framed  in  general  according  to  the  "  Horaries 
and  Primers  of  the  Church  of  Rome,"  particularly  "  Our 
Lady's  Primer  or  Office,"  and  that  it  was  "  Popish  trash 
and  trumpery,  taken  out  of  Popish  Primers  and  Catechisms." 
Before  this  reply  came  out,  in  September  1627,  a  document 
is  entered  among  the  State  Papers,2  containing  "  observa 
tions  on  Dr  Cosin's  Book  of  Hours  of  Prayer,  principally 
with  respect  to  the  publication  of  a  reprint  of  a  first  im 
pression,  which  was  called  in,  because  it  contained  a  prayer 
for  a  man  after  his  soul  is  departed."  It  is  indorsed,  in 
Bishop  Laud's  hand,  "  Delivered  to  my  Lord  Conwaye, 
God  knowes  bye  whome,  and  by  his  Lordship  sent  to  his 
Majesty."  It  does  not  require  much  reading  between  the 
lines  to  conjecture  from  this  that  his  Majesty  was  not  over 
pleased  about  the  matter,  and  that  Laud  wished  that  "  God- 
knowes-whome "  had  not  been  so  officious.  Yet  the  king 
must  have  been  pacified,  for  some  time  afterwards,  when 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  164. 
2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1627-8,  p.  342. 


138  Life  of  ArcJibishop  Laud. 

the  Deanery  of  Peterborough  was  vacant,  and  Laud  named 
four  of  the  royal  chaplains  to  him  for  the  post,  "  the  king 
pitched  upon  Dr  Cozens,"  the  reason  given  being  that  "  he 
had  but  Forty  Pounds  a  year  by  his  Headship  in  Peter-House 
to  maintain  himself,  his  Wife  and  Children." 

Cozen  writes  to  Laud,  in  I628,1  complaining  that  "a  son 
of  Belial  and  a  solicitor"  had  "invented  an  incredible 
slander "  against  him,  "  and  informed  it  to  Mr  Attorney 
General."  This  seems  to  have  been  repeated  to  Charles  I., 
for  Cozen  "  is  burdened  with  grief,  that,  while  he  labours  to 
serve  God  and  the  King,  his  Majesty  should  be  prejudiced 
against  him,  and  he  be  reckoned  among  those  offenders  and 
spurners  against  authority  whom  he  ever  abhorred." 

The  recent  mention  of  Bishop  Mountain,  or  "  Montaigne," 
Laud's  predecessor  in  the  See  of  London,  reminds  me  of  an 
expression  of  the  "  Nolo  episcopari,"  or  rather  of  the  "  nolo 
archiepiscopari,"  which  may  be  worth  quoting  : 2 — "  Bishop 
Montaigne,  of  London,  to  George  Duke  of  Buckingham. 
Has  received  certain  intelligence  of  the  Archbishop  of  York's 
death.  Reminds  the  Duke  of  the  writer's  earnest  suit  and 
of  his  gracious  answer  when  the  Duke  did  the  writer  the 
honour  to  see  him,  his  sick  servant,  the  last  time  at  his 
house,  which  he  shall  never  forget.  It  is  the  place  and 
house  where  he  was  born.  Besides,  the  world  will  see  that 
he  is  still  where  he  was  by  such  an  eminent  favour,  which 
he  values  far  above  the  commodity  and  honour  of  the 
bishopric."  That  is  to  say,  if  words  mean  anything,  that 
Montaigne  valued  the  privilege  of  being  a  favoured  servant 
of  Buckingham  "  far  above  "  that  of  being  a  favoured  servant 
of  God.  We  can  now  better  understand  why  Heylin  wrote 
of  him  as  one  who  "  loved  his  ease." 

I  must  return  to  Cozen,  to  show  that  he  and  Laud  were 
on  friendly  terms.  Five  weeks  after  the  latter  had  been  in 
actual  possession  of  the  Bishopric  of  London,  Cozen  wrote  to 
him  concerning  a  Dr  Smart,  a  Prebend  of  Durham,  who  had 
preached  a  sermon  in  that  cathedral  which  gave  great  offence. 
The  dean  and  chapter  had  already  written3  to  Laud  about  the 
1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1628-9,  P-  39°.  2  /<*.,  p.  59-  3  //>.,  p.  243. 


dit.  55-i  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud*  139 

matter  to  "  crave  his  assistance  and  preservation  from  obloquy 
and  contempt ;  "  but  Cozen  wrote l  privately  at  great  length, 
and  added  that "  Smart  preferred  four  indictments  at  the  last 
Assizes  in  Durham  ;  one  that  they  placed  the  communion 
table  the  wrong  way  ;  another,  that  they  stand  up  and  sing 
the  creed  after  the  Gospel  " — there  is  plenty  of  evidence 
that  until  very  near  the  period  of  which  I  am  writing,  in  the 
reformed  Anglican  Church,  it  was  usual  to  sit  during  the 
creed — "  a  third  that  they  use  wax  lights  and  tapers ;  and 
a  fourth  that  Mr  Burgoyne  has  set  up  an  altar  in  his  church 
at  Wearmouth, — all  by  Smart  supposed  to  be  superstitious 
ceremonies,  and  contrary  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity.  A  great 
noise  there  was  about  it."  The  grand  jury  threw  out  the 
bill,  and  the  judge  gave  Dr  Smart  a  lecture,  "  adding,  that 
the  man  deserved  no  small  punishment  who,  in  this  un 
wonted  sort,  had  gone  about  to  disgrace  the  Church,  and 
dishonour  the  solemnity  of  God's  service  there,  where  he 
himself  had  been  an  eye  and  ear  witness  that  all  things 
were  done  in  decency  and  in  order." 

This  was  all  very  well  ;  but,  says  Cozen,  "  Smart  sticks 
not  to  profess  that  he  will  fetch  them  all  into  higher  courts." 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  without  being  reminded  of 
certain  appeals,  in  ritual  cases,  from  the  Court  of  Arches  to 
the  Privy  Council,  within  comparatively  recent  memory,  and 
perhaps  a  smile  may  be  excusable. 

Laud's  Diary  in  1628  contains  the  usual  memoranda  of  his 
aches  and  pains.  One  day,  he  has  "  a  terrible  salt  Rheum 
in"  his  left  eye.  On  another  he  "fell  Sick,"  and  "came  Sick 
from  Hampton-Court"  On  a  third,  he  was  "  sore  plucked" 
with  his  sickness.  On  a  fourth,  he  was  "  forced  to  put  on  a 
Truss  "  for  the  ailment  generally  requiring  such  a  remedy, 
although  he  did  not  know  how  it  had  been  "  occasioned, 
unless  it  were  with  swinging  of  a  Book  for  my  Exercise  in 
private."  From  this  it  appears  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
using  a  heavy  volume  as  a  dumb-bell. 

A  very  short  entry  records  a  very  momentous  event  :— 
"August  23.  Saturday,  St  Bartholomew's  Eve,  the  Duke  of 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1628-9,  p.  259. 


140  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid. 

Buckingham  slain  at  Portsmouth  by  one  Felton  about  Nine 
in  the  Morning."  x 

The  news  reached  Laud  on  the  following  day  at  Croydon, 
where  he,  with  three  other  bishops,  was  engaged  in  "  the 
Consecration  of  Bishop  Montague  for  ChicJuster>  with  my 
Lord's  Grace."  "  My  Lord "  was  evidently  Buckingham, 
so  that  Montague  became  Bishop  of  Chichester,  not  by  the 
Grace  of  God,  but  by  the  Grace  of  Buckingham.  Indeed  it  is 
impossible  to  study  the  history  of  Laud  without  perceiving 
that  to  him  Buckingham  was  "  Very  Duke  of  Very  Dukes," 
as  Lord  Brougham  said  of  a  very  different  person. 

It  may  surprise  some  people  to  read  of  Laud's  threaten 
ing  a  prisoner  with  the  rack.  When  Felton,  who  had 
assassinated  Buckingham,  was  called  before  the  Council,  he 
was  pressed 2  "  to  confess  who  had  set  him  on  work  to  do 
such  a  bloody  act,  and  if  the  Puritans  had  no  hand  therein  : 
he  denied  they  had  ;  and  so  he  did  to  the  last,  that  no  person 
whatsoever  knew  any  thing  of  his  intentions,  or  purpose  to 
kill  the  duke,  that  he  revealed  it  to  none  living.  Dr  Laud, 
Bishop  of  London,  being  then  at  the  Council-table,  told  him, 
if  he  would  not  confess,  he  must  go  to  the  rack.  Felton 
replied,  if  it  must  be  so,  he  could  not  tell  whom  he  might 
nominate  (sic)  the  extremity  of  torture  ;  and  if  what  he  should 
say  then  must  go  for  truth,  he  could  not  tell  whether  his 
lordship  (meaning  Laud),  or  which  of  their  lordships,  he 
might  name  ;  for  torture  might  draw  unexpected  things  from 
him.  After  this  he  was  asked  no  more  questions,  but  sent 
back  to  prison." 

Within  a  month  of  his  death,  the  following  epitaph  was 
suggested  for  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  :— 

"./Enigma  Mundi  Minor, 
Omnia  fui,  nee  quicquam  habui  ; 
Patriae  parens  et  Hostis  audio  ; 
Deliciae  idem  et  ludibriutn  Parlamenti  ; 
Qui  dum  Papistis  bellum  infero,  insimulor  Papista  ; 
Dum  Protestantium  partibus  consulo,  occidor  a  Protestante."3 

1  Diary,  p.  43. 
-Rushworth,  vol.  i.  p.  638.  3  S.  P.  O.,  Charles  I.,  vol.  cxvii.  No.  29. 


Of  Archbishop  Laud.  141 

The  last  word  alludes  to  the  fact  that  his  murderer, 
Felton,  was  a  Protestant.  Laud  wrote  to  Secretary  Conway 
that  "  he  had  the  news  of  that  accursed  fact "  (the  death  of 
Buckingham)  "  to  his  great  sorrow  and  grief  of  heart.  It  is 
the  saddest  accident  that  ever  befel  him,  and  should  be  so  for 
all  good  Christians."1 

Undoubtedly  he  must  have  grieved  greatly  over  the  death 
of  his  friend,  and  the  downfall  of  so  important  a  patron, 
especially  at  a  time  when  his  enemies  were  declaring  them 
selves  with  greater  and  greater  courage,  would  make  him 
nervous  about  his  own  future ;  but  he  evidently  received 
great  consolation  in  the  loss  of  his  pet  penitent  and  dear 
ord,  "from  a  very  Gracious  Message  from  his  Majesty,  upon 
my  Lord  Duke's  death,"  "  very  Gracious  Letters  from  the 
King's  Majesty,  written  with  his  own  Hand,"  and,  on  the  first 
occasion  of  his  court,  after  Buckingham's  death,  "the  Gracious 
Speech,  which  that  Night  the  King  was  pleased  to  use  to 
me."  In  short  the  death  of  Buckingham  had  the  effect  of 
strengthening  rather  than  of  weakening  Laud's  power ;  as 
it  made  the  king  depend  more  exclusively  upon  his  advice  ; 
moreover,  there  had  been  of  late  a  strong,  and  daily  increas 
ing,  animus  against  the  great  royal  favourite,  and  if  the 
Commons  could  have  succeeded  in  effecting  his  overthrow,  it 
is  probable  that  Laud  also  would  have  been  crushed  in  the 
ruin.  As  it  was,  Laud  rose  higher  in  the  king's  favour,  and 
the  end  of  the  year  1628  saw  him  becoming  one  of  the  most 
powerful  factors  in  the  State. 

The  first  quarter  of  1629  showed  that  the  Commons  were 
bitterly  opposed  to  the  Episcopal  favourite.  "The  Parlia 
ment,  which  was  broken  up  this  March  10,"  he  writes, 
"  laboured  my  ruin  ;  but,  God  be  blessed  for  it,  found  nothing 
against  me."  There  were  other  signs,  however,  of  his  un 
popularity.  "  March  29.  Sunday,  Two  Papers  were  found  in 
the  Dean  of  PauPs  his  Yard  before  his  House.  The  one 
was  to  this  effect  concerning  my  self ;  Laud,  look  to  thy 
self;  be  assured  thy  Life  is  sought.  As  thou  art  the  Fountain 
of  all  Wickedness,  Repent  thee  of  thy  monstrous  Sins,  before 
1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1628-9,  P-  269. 


142  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  circa  1629. 

thou  be  taken  out  of  the  World,  &c.  And  assure  thy  self, 
neither  God  nor  the  World  can  endure  such  a  vile  Councellor 
to  live,  or  such  a  Whisperer ;  or  to  this  effect." l 

Laud  took  this  matter  very  seriously.  "Mr  Dean  delivered 
both  Papers  to  the  King  that  Night.  Lord  I  am  a  grievous 
Sinner ;  but  I  beseech  thee,  deliver  my  Soul  from  them  that 
hate  me  without  a  Cause." 

The  anti-Laudian  spirit  found  its  way  into  the  pulpit.  A 
certain  Mr  Salisbury,  in  a  sermon  on  Matthew  xxiv.  6, 
"  deplored  the  changes  introduced  into  the  Church,  and  the 
unhappy  dissensions  in  Parliament,  and  urged  upon  his 
hearers  to  suffer  all  things  in  a  passing  fortitude  rather  than 
permit  the  least  impairing  of  the  national  liberties."  Laud 
apparently  sent  notes  of  this  sermon  to  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Hyde,  and  asked  his  advice.  The  reply  came  that  "  Lord 
Chief  Justice  Hyde  has  advised  with  the  rest  of  his  brethren, 
and  they  utterly  condemn  Mr  Salisbury  of  much  folly  and 
indiscretion,  and  hold  him  worthy  to  be  proceeded  against, 
but  advise  that  he  should  be  convented  before  the  Ecclesias 
tical  Commissioners." 5 

If  any  proof  were  wanting  that  a  strong  and  outspoken 
party  existed  in  opposition  to  Laud,  it  would  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  a  clergyman,  and  apparently  one  with  something 
against  his  character,  could  venture  to  hint  that  he  would 
threaten  to  join  it  unless  Laud  would  give  him  preferment. 
Here  is  an  instance  in  point3: — "  John  Traske  to  Bishop  Laud, 
of  London.  Will  not  think  so  vilely  of  his  venerableness  as 
that  he  should  be  so  implacably  cruel  against  a  man  unseen, 
unheard,  unknown,  and  never  spoken  with  to  this  day. 
What  if  he  once  erred  ?  How  long  was  it  ?  How  long 
since  relinquished  ?  Has  confessed  by  authority  in  pulpit 
and  in  print.  Can  bring  large  testimony  for  his  orthodox 
teaching.  The  late  King  gave  charge  for  his  preferment  to 
the  then  Lord  Chancellor.  Is  loath  to  be  of  that  number 
who  go  railing  up  and  down  against  bishops  for  bare  main 
tenance.  Knows  no  law  to  starve  any,  and  he  knows  no  way 
to  live  out  of  his  callings." 

1  Diary,  p.  44.        2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1628-9,  p.  551.        3  Ib.,  p.  576. 


&t.s6.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  143 

As  to  what  was  "  orthodox  teaching,"  there  was  more  than 
one  opinion.  Certainly  the  House  of  Commons  held  a  very 
different  one  from  that  of  Laud.  In  the  already  mentioned 
"  Remonstrance,"  the  House  submitted  that  "  some  prelates 
near  the  king,  having  gotten  the  chief  administration  of 
ecclesiastical  affairs  under  His  Majesty,  discountenance 
and  hinder  the  preferment  of  those  that  are  orthodox,  and 
favour  such  as  are  contrary  ; " l  and  then  Laud  is  expressly 
mentioned,  as  also  is  the  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Threatening 
indeed  were  the  clouds  which  were  beginning  to  gather  on 
Laud's  horizon,  although  he  was  basking  in  the  full  sunshine 
of  the  royal  patronage  and  pleasure. 

So  far  as  danger  threatened  Laud  from  the  Parliament,  it 
was  destined  to  be  held  in  suspense  for  a  period  of  eleven 
years.  Early  in  March  1629,  while  Holies  was  suggesting  a 
protest  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  first  section  of  which 
was  "  Whoever  shall  seek  to  bring  in  popery,  Arminianism, 
or  other  opinions  disagreeing  from  the  true  and  orthodox 
church,  shall  be  reputed  a  capital  enemy  to  this  kingdom 
and  commonwealth,"  the  king  came  into  the  House  of  Lords 
and  sent  for  the  sergeant-at-arms.  The  Commons  would  not 
allow  him  to  obey.  He  then  sent  the  usher  of  the  black  rod 
to  deliver  a  message  to  it,  and  he  was  refused  admission, 
whereupon  he  commanded  the  captain  of  the  guard  to  break 
open  the  door  ;  but  when  he  reached  it  he  found  that  the 
Commons  had  adjourned  till  the  tenth.  On  that  day,  the 
king  went  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and,  without  even  sum 
moning  the  Commons,  dissolved  Parliament.  The  houses 
were  not  again  convoked  until  1640,  the  interval  being  the 
longest  in  the  whole  parliamentary  history  of  this  country. 

1  "Constitutional  Documents  of  the  Puritan  Revolution,  1628-60,"  Gardiner, 
p.  15. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

Two  births,  interesting  to  Laud,  took  place  in  the  spring 
of  the  year  1629.  The  first  was  that  of  a  posthumous  son  of 
his  dear  Lord  Duke  of  Buckingham,  which  he  christened 
when  about  three  weeks  old.  The  second  was  one  of  greater 
importance. 

The  queen  was  expecting  to  become  a  mother,  and, 
anxious  to  know  the  result,  she  consulted  a  lady  who  pro 
fessed  to  be  a  prophetess.  This  was  Lady  Eleanor,  a 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Castlehaven,  and  the  wife  of  Sir 
John  Davies,  the  Attorney  General.  Lady  Eleanor  seems 
to  have  been  half-clever,  half-mad.  The  foundation  of  her 
claim  to  prophetical  powers  was  the  discovery  that  the 
letters  composing  her  names — her  Christian  name  and  her 
maiden  surname — twisted  into  an  anagram,  formed  the 
words  "  Reveal,  O  Daniel,"  and  this  she  interpreted  to  mean 
that  the  mantle  of  that  prophet  had  descended  upon  her 
shoulders.  She  had  the  good  luck  to  foretell  her  first 
husband's  death l  correctly,  and  this  happy  hit  established 
her  reputation.  One  day  when  she  was  in  waiting,  the 
queen  asked  her  whether  she  should  have  a  son,  and  her 
reply  was  that  she  should  indeed  have  a  son,  but  that  it 
"  would  be  born,  christened,  and  buried  all  in  one  day ! " 
I  should  not  mention  this  matter  were  it  not  that  I  shall  have 
to  show,  a  little  later,  how  Lady  Eleanor  Davies  tried  her 
hand  at  forecasting  the  future  of  Laud  himself,  and  with 
what  result.  I  should  observe,  here,  that  in  venturing  to 
prophesy  to  the  queen,  she  greatly  offended  the  king,  who 
said  to  her : — "  How  now,  Lady  Eleanor ;  are  not  you  the 
person  who  foretold  your  husband's  death  in  three  days 
before  it  happened  ?  It  was  the  next  to  breaking  his  heart." 

1  Ballard's  «  Celebrated  Women." 
144 


Srt?a56.629']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  145 

On  the  thirteenth  of  May,  writes  Laud,  "  about  Three  of 
the  Clock,  the  Queen  was  delivered  before  her  time  of  a 
Son."1 

Miss  Strickland  2  tells  us  that  "  a  contest  took  place  between 
Charles  I.  and  the  queen's  confessor,  whether  the  heir  of 
Great  Britain  should  be  baptized  according  to  the  church 
of  England,  or  the  church  of  Rome  ;  but  the  king  carried 
his  point,  and  the  boy  was  named  Charles  James,  by  Dr 
Webb,  the  chaplain  in  attendance."  The  child  was  in  a  very 
languid  condition  from  the  moment  of  its  premature  birth, 
and  about  an  hour  after  its  baptism  it  died.  Laud  describes 
these  events  as  follows : — "  He  was  Christened,  and  Died 
within  short  space,  his  Name  Charles:  This  was  Ascension 
Eve.  The  next  Day  being  Maij  14.  Ascension  Day, 
Paulo  post  mediant  Noctem,  I  Buried  him  at  Westminster" 
And  then  follows  an  atrocious  pun.  "  If  God  repair  not 
this  loss ;  I  much  fear  it  was  Descension-day  to  this 
State." 

The  year  1629  was  not  one  of  the  most  eventful  in  the  life  of 
Laud.  During  the  latter  half  of  it  he  was  in  ill-health.  On  the 
I4th  of  August,  he  says  : — "  I  fell  sick  upon  my  way  towards 
the  Court  at  Woodstock.  I  took  up  my  Lodging  at  my  ancient 
Friend's  House,  Mr  Francis  Windcbank.  There  I  lay  in  a 
most  grievous  burning  Fever,  till  Munday  Sep.  7;"  "  On  which 
Day  I  had  my  last  Fit."  He  was  "  brought  so  low,"  as  to  be 
unable  to  return  to  his  own  house  in  London  until  the  29th 
of  October.  His  first  act  on  his  recovery  was  to  present  his 
"  humble  Duty  and  Service  to  his  Majesty  at  Denmark-House" 
For  some  time  after  this  he  "  had  divers  Plunges,  and  was  not 
able  to  put"  him  "self  into  the  service  of"  his  "Place  till 
Palm-Sunday,  which  was  March  21"  in  the  following  year. 
This  was  one  of  the  longest,  indeed  I  think  quite  the  longest, 
illness  that  Laud  had  in  his  whole  life. 

While  the  subject  of  our  biography  is  lying  in  bed,  we 
may  notice  some  letters  and  documents  written  about  that 
time,  demonstrating  the  condition  of  his  Church.  One  is  an 
order  by  another  bishop  "  to  be  affixed  in  all  parish  churches 

1  Diary,  p.  44.  2  "  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England,"  viii.  p.  55. 

K 


146  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  tl^6*9' 

within  his  jurisdiction,  for  reforming  certain  abuses."1  "The 
abuses  are  : — That  during  Divine  service  young  men,  misled 
by  the  example  of  their  elders,  sit  covered.  That  men  walk 
up  and  down,  and  talk  before  and  after  Divine  service,  and 
keep  ales  and  drinking  within  the  Church,  and  write  their 
rates  upon  the  Communion  Table,  &c."  The  communion 
table  would,  of  course,  be  in  the  body  of  the  church.  In 
what  part  of  the  church  the  "  ales  and  drinking  "  took  place 
is  not  stated. 

A  proclamation  was  issued  from  Hampton  Court, 
ordering  that  "  fish  days,  and  especially  Lent,  are  to  be  duly 
observed,  '  the  ancient  and  laudable  custom  '  of  abstinence 
from  suppers  on  Fridays  and  the  '  eves  of  feasts  commanded 
to  be  fasted '  is  ordered  to  be  kept  in  all  taverns  and 
ordinaries." 2 

While  Laud  was  still  invalided,  one  of  his  clergy  wrote  to 
him  complaining  that  the  people  were  "  over  much  addicted 
to  '  hearing  the  word,'  as  they  call  it,  to  the  neglect  of  God's 
service  and  worship,"3  and  recommending  him  to  silence  a  Mr 
Hooker,  whom,  he  says,  Bishop  Andrews  had  suppressed  in 
his  diocese.  A  few  days  later,  Laud  received  a  letter  signed 
by  forty-nine  beneficed  clergy,  stating  that  they  "  esteem  and 
know  Mr  Hooker  to  be  for  doctrine,  orthodox,  for  life  and 
conversation,  honest,  and  for  disposition,  peaceable,  no  ways 
turbulent  or  factious.  Recommend  him  to  the  Bishop's 
favour,  and  intreat  his  continuance."  4 

Worries  came  to  him  again,  in  his  convalescence,  from 
"  the  Inhabitants  of  Hammersmith,  in  the  parish  of  Fulham," 
who  wrote 5  begging  "  him  to  consider  the  length  and 
foulness  of  the  way  between  Fulham  and  that  place,  in 
winter  most  toilsome,  sometimes  over  ploughed  lands,  and 
almost  unpassable ; "  and  they  ask  leave  to  build  a  chapel 
of  ease  at  Hammersmith.  Edmund,  Earl  of  Mulgrave,  adds 
a  letter  supporting  their  cause.  He  had  "  thought  to  have 
attended  him,  to  have  moved  him  in  that  particular,  and 
also  to  have  congratulated  him  on  his  recovery  from  long 

1<cCal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1629-31,  p.  141.  2/£.,  p.  348. 

3  Ib.t  p.  87.  4/£.,  p.  92.  5  Ib.,  p.  115. 


§£a56l6291  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  147 

sickness,  but  the   Earl  is  himself  suffering  from  dangerous 
disease." 

Laud  wrote  in  reply  1  that  "  the  relics  of  his  fearful  disease 
have  stuck  so  close,  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  visit  his 
Lordship."  "  Shall  look  that  the  chapel  be  built  as  other 
churches  are,  east  and  west,  without  tricks."  From  this 
"  without  tricks,"  it  would  appear  that  Laud  felt  some  doubts 
as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  Lord  Mulgrave  and  the  people  of 
Hammersmith,  especially  as  he  goes  on  to  say  that  "  some 
men  under  the  title  of  '  able  and  conformable  ministers/ 
bring  in  notorious  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  church  ; 
therefore,  the  Bishop  suggests  that  the  appointment  of 
minister  should  be  left  to  him." 

Lord  Mulgrave  wrote  in  answer  that  "  the  chapel  shall 
stand  east  and  west,  without  tricks,  as  was  ever  intended." 
As  to  "  the  nomination  of  the  minister,  none  of  them  distrust 
the  Bishop,  but  who  knows  how  he  may  be  succeeded. 
Craves  that  some  few  of  the  inhabitants  may  present  one 
or  more  to  his  approbation,  who,  giving  him  good  testimony 
of  life,  doctrine,  and  conformableness,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be 
as  acceptable  to  the  Bishop  as  if  he  had  made  the  election. 
Suspects  that  some  one  has  possessed  the  Bishop  with  an 
opinion  that  some  of  them  aim  to  bring  in  some  busy- 
headed  or  factious  man." 

Occasionally,  Laud's  letters  were  more  cheering.  A 
couple  of  months  after  his  correspondence  with  Lord 
Mulgrave,  a  Dr  Aylett  wrote  to  him  :2 — "Was  last  Tuesday 
at  Chelmsford  lecture,  where  Mr  South  of  Writtle  preached, 
who  spake  so  pertinently  against  the  schism  of  inconformity, 
and  so  gently  advised  them  to  peace,  that  a  lawyer  said  as 
he  came  out,  'A  few  such  excellent  sermons  would  bring 
again  the  people  in  love  with  conformity.'  Was  bold  to 
thank  the  preacher  in  the  Bishop's  name."  But  he  adds 
significantly :  —  "  Saw  there  no  conformity  in  hood  or 
surplice.  Offers  to  give  a  lecture  if  directed." 

Almost  simultaneously  with  Laud's  complete  recovery, 
occurred  a  convenient  death  : — "  The  Earl  of  Pembroke,  Lord 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1629-31,  p.  118.  2  /<$.,  p.  197. 


148  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [S?a57l63°' 

Steward,  being  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  died 
of  an  Apoplexie."  This  "  apoplexie  "  cleared  the  way  for 
Laud.  Only  two  days  after  the  death  of  Pembroke,  "  the 
University  of  Oxford  chose  me  Chancellor  ;  and  word  was 
brought  me  of  it,  the  next  Morning,  Munday"  Scarcely  any 
post  could  have  been  more  to  his  liking. 

Every  rose,  however,  has  its  thorn  ;  nor  was  this  particular 
rose  an  exception.  "  I  was  welcomed  into  my  Chancellor 
ship  of  Oxford,"  he  says,  "with  two  very  ill  accidents;  in 
either  sermon  one." 1  "  The  first,  I  hear,  was  committed  by 
one  of  Exeter  College  ;  who  preached  directly  against  all 
obeisance,  or  any  devout  gesture  in  receiving  of  the  com 
munion.  And  if  this  be  true,  we  shall  not  kneel  neither.  I 
would  not  be  too  sour  at  my  first  coming  in ;  and  yet  I 
would  not  have  sermons  of  such  ill-example  lead  the  way 
into  my  government  there." 

Laud's  influence  at  Oxford  had  been  great  for  many  years, 
and  his  election  was  the  consequence  of  his  concordance  with 
the  heads  of  the  colleges.  His  chancellorship  was  remark 
able  for  his  personal  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  university 
and  his  management  of  them,  even  when  absent  from  it,  and 
one  of  the  first  things  he  did  was  to  arrange  that  the  vice- 
chancellor  should  send  him  a  detailed  account  of  what  was 
going  on  at  Oxford,  twice  a  week.2 

To  his  credit  be  it  spoken,  although  he  sought  to  advance 
his  own  ecclesiastical  polity,  as  he  conceived  it  to  be  his  duty, 
he  none  the  less  introduced  useful  reforms  both  in  discipline 
and  in  study,  and  he  presented  the  university  with  nearly 
six  hundred  valuable  manuscripts  in  Arabic,  Hebrew,  Greek, 
and  Latin,  during  the  first  five  years  of  his  chancellorship.3 

We  must  now  return  to  the  queen.  Lady  Eleanor  Davies 
had  prophesied  again,  foretelling  that  Henrietta  Maria 
would  have  another  son  and  a  strong  one,  and  bonfires  were 
actually  lighted  in  honour  of  the  delivery  of  such  a  prophecy 
by  that  silly  woman.  It  so  happened  that  the  prophetess 

1 "  Libr.  of  Anglo-Cath.  Theol.,"  vol.  v.  part  i.  p.  15. 

2"  Eng.  Univ.,"  by  Huber.     Trans.  F.  W.  Newman,  vol.  ii.  part  i.  p.  43. 

3/<*.,  P.  45- 


Circa  i63o.-|  £  ^  Qj:  A  rckbisJlOp   L  dU(l.  I  4Q 


was  again  right.  On  the  29th  of  May  1630,  a  baby,  and  an 
ugly  baby,  prince  was  born.  The  king  sent  a  formal  intima 
tion  to  Laud.  "  The  King  to  Bishop  Laud.  It  having 
pleased  God  to  vouchsafe  unto  the  King  a  son,  according  to 
the  laudable  custom  of  his  royal  progenitors,  he  makes  known 
the  joyful  tidings  to  him,  as  Bishop  of  London,  by  Sir  William 
Segar,  Garter."  *  Laud  tells  us  in  his  Diary  that  he  had  been 
in  the  house  three  hours  before  the  child  was  born,  and  that 
he  "had  the  Honour  and  the  Happiness  to  see  the  Prince, 
before  he  was  full  one  hour  old." 

The  very  morning  of  its  birth,  the  king  rode  in  state  to 
Laud's  own  cathedral,  St  Paul's,  to  return  thanks  ;  2  but 
whether  Laud  was  present  does  not  appear. 

Laud  was  commanded  to  christen  the  child  in  the  king's  — 
not  the  queen's  —  chapel  at  St  James's.  A  draft  exists  3  of 
the  "  Orders  for  the  christening  of  the  Prince.  The  chapel 
and  all  rooms  through  which  the  procession  was  to  pass 
were  to  be  hanged  with  tapestry  ;  an  organ  was  to  be 
brought  into  the  chapel  ;  a  stage  was  to  be  erected  in  the 
middle  of  the  chapel  and  the  font  to  be  set  thereon  ;  after 
the  christening  the  infant  to  be  carried  to  the  King  and 
Queen  to  receive  their  blessing  ;  the  bishops  and  clergy  to 
attend  in  their  copes  ;  the  mayor  in  his  velvet,  the  aldermen 
in  their  scarlet  gowns  ;  artillery  to  be  shot  off  at  the  Tower, 
and  by  the  shipping,  immediately  after  the  christening,  and 
bonfires  to  be  made  at  night." 

Besides  royal  functions  and  attendances  at  court,  Laud 
had  plenty  of  letters  and  episcopal  work  to  occupy  him 
about  this  time.  I  may  give  a  few  specimens  of  his  corre 
spondence.  The  Bishop  of  Durham  wrote  to  him  concerning 
the  weary  length  of  the  services  in  his  cathedral,  one  beginning 
at  eight  A.M.  and  continuing  till  eleven,  and  suggesting  "the 
propriety  of  dividing  the  Sunday  Morning  service  prescribed 
by  the  Prayer  Book  into  several  parts  to  be  read  at  different 
hours  in  the  forenoon."4 

^'Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1629-31,  p.  269. 

2  Strickland's  "Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Eng.,"  vol.  viii.  p.  58. 

3  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1629-31,  p.  283.  4  //>.,  p.  541. 


1 50  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Lord  Wentworth  wrote  to  recommend  his  chaplain,  who 
had  been  in  his  house  nearly  twenty  years,  for  a  vacant 
prebend  at  Durham.  He  was  a  man  "  infinitely  happy 
in  his  conversation,"  and  there  was  "not  a  learneder 
man  on  the  north  of  Trent,  nor  a  priest  of  better  temper 
or  life."1 

The  Council  wrote  to  Laud,  announcing  that  the  pro 
clamation  regarding  abstinence,  referred  to  above,  had  been 
"  much  contemned  in  inns  and  such  like  places,  as  seems 
very  strange  to  his  Majesty  and  this  Board  ; "  and  "  it  is  his 
Majesty's  pleasure  that  the  ecclesiastical  court  shall  take 
effectual  order  that  the  offenders  be  punished,  &c."  * 

The  very  next  entry  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers 
is  a  "  List  of  the  Master  Printers  of  London,  with  a 
sum  placed  against  each  of  their  names  in  the  handwrit 
ing  of  Bishop  Laud,  and  headed  '  To  St  Paul's  ; ' — to  the 
repair  of  St  Paul's.  The  sums  assessed  run  from "  £,6  up 
to  £40. 

Then  there  is  a  letter  from  Laud  himself  to  a  Dr  Samuel 
Brooke,  "respecting  his  intended  tract  on  Predestination." 
Laud  considers  that  "  somewhat  about  those  controversies  is 
unmasterable  in  this  life,  neither  can  he  think  any  expression 
can  be  so  happy  as  to  settle  all  these  difficulties.  Doubts 
whether  the  King  will  have  these  controversies  further  stirred, 
which  now  begin  to  be  more  at  peace."  3  One  cannot  doubt 
that  a  "Theological  paper  indorsed  by  Bishop  Laud,  as 
containing  '  Mr  Mady's  doctrine  about  election,' " 4  would  be 
answered  in  a  similar  tone. 

But  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  the  person  whose  case  in 
terested  Laud  chiefly  in  the  year  1630,  was  Dr  Leighton, 
of  whom  Laud's  biographer,  Heylin,  writes  as  follows.5 
"  Leighton,  a  Scot  by  birth,  a  Doctor  of  Physic  by  Profession, 
a  fiery  Puritan  in  Faction,  dedicated  a  most  pestilent  book 
unto  them,  called  Sioris  Plea.  In  this  Book  he  incited  them 
to  kill  all  the  Bishops,  and  to  smite  them  under  the  .fifth  Rib, 
inveighing  also  against  the  Queen,  whom  he  branded  by  the 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1629-31,  p.  354.  2  /£.,  p.  379. 

3  /&.,  p.  405.  4  /£.,  p.  528.  5  "  Cyp.  Angl.,"  p.  187. 


Sca571630']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 5 1 

name  of  an  Idolatress,  a  Canaanite,  and  the  Daughter  of 
Heth." 

At  Laud's  instigation,1  Leighton  was  brought  before  the 
Star  Chamber,  where  he  was  condemned  to  pay  a  fine  of 
£10,000 ;  to  be  publicly  whipped  ;  to  be  placed  for  two 
hours  in  the  pillory,  and  to  have  an  ear  cut  off,  a  nostril  slit 
open,  and  a  cheek  branded  with  the  letters  S.S.  (Sower  of 
Sedition) ;  and,  a  week  later,  to  be  again  whipped,  to  be 
again  put  in  the  pillory,  to  lose  the  other  ear,  to  have  the 
other  nostril  slit,  and  to  have  the  other  cheek  branded. 
When  this  extraordinarily  severe  sentence  had  been  passed, 
Leighton  gave  "  thanks  to  God,  who  had  given  him  the 
victory  over  his  enemies."  It  is  said  that  from  this  trial 
dates  the  friendship  of  Laud  and  Wentworth. 2 

The  notes  in  Laud's  own  Diary,3  relating  to  Leighton, 
may  be  worthy  of  quotation  here  : — "  Novemb.  4.  Thursday, 
Leighton  was  degraded  at  the  High  Commission.  Novemb. 
9.  Tuesday,  That  Night  Leighton  broke  out  of  the  Fleet. 
The  Warden  says,  he  got  or  was  helped  over  the  Wall  ; 
the  Warden  professes,  he  knew  not  this  till  Wednesday 
Noon.  He  told  it  not  me  till  Thursday  Night.  He  was 
taken  again  in  Bedfordshire,  and  brought  back  to  the  Fleet 
within  a  Fortnight.  Noveinb.  26.  Friday,  Part  of  his  Sentence 
was  executed  upon  him  at  Westminster" 

Laud  seems  to  have  thought  it  necessary  to  counter 
balance  this  severity  upon  a  Puritan  by  a  show  of  at  least 
strictness  towards  Catholics ;  for  it  was  probably  at  his 
advice  that  the  king  forbade  any  English  Catholics  to  hear 
mass  in  the  queen's  chapels,  enjoined  the  enforcement  of 
the  existing  laws  against  the  Jesuits,  and  offered  a  reward 
of  £100  for  the  apprehension  of  a  Catholic  bishop  known  to 
be  in  London.  4  It  is  true  that  only  one  priest  was  martyred 
about  the  time  of  which  I  am  now  writing,  and  that  this  took 
place  through  the  over-zealous  haste  of  a  certain  judge  ;  but 
many  priests  suffered  long  terms  of  imprisonment,  a  few 
dying  while  undergoing  this  treatment. 

1  Lingard,  vol.  vii.  chap.  iv.     -  "Die.  Nat.  Biog.,"  Laud,  by  S.  R.  Gardiner. 
3  Diary,  p.  45.  4  Lingard,  vol.  viii.  chap.  iv. 


152  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  |S!T58X.63Xl 

Five  months  after  his  recovery  from  his  long  illness,  Laud 
"  was  taken  with  an  extream  Cold  and  Lameness  "  and  was 
laid  up  for  a  week.  This  was  only  about  a  fortnight  before 
the  trial  of  Leighton,  and,  if  the  "  Lameness "  proceeded 
from  gout,  it  may  help  to  account  for  the  severity  of  the 
sentence  upon  Leighton,  especially  if  the  "  extream  Cold  " 
drove  it  in.  He  is,  indeed,  likely  to  have  had  the  gout,  if  he 
drank  the  "  Metheglins  "  then  so  popular,  or  "  a  pleasant  and 
wholesome  drink,"  composed  of  honey  and  "  small  Ale," 
recommended  by  his  friend,  Sir  Kenelm  Digby.1 

The  next  year  Laud  again  showed  his  zeal  against  the 
Puritans.  This  time,  instead  of  letting  his  great  admirer, 
Heylin,  tell  the  story,  I  will  depute  that  office  to  Prynne,  a 
gentleman  who  regarded  Laud  and  his  policy  from  a  some 
what  different  point  of  view.2  "In  the  year  1631,  William 
Beale,  servant  to  Master  Henry  Gellibrand,  Professor  of 
Mathematics  at  Gresham  College,  London,  set  forth  an 
Almanacke  for  that  yeare,  .  .  .  agreeing  with  the  Kalendar 
before  Master  Fox  his  Acts  and  Monuments  printed  oft 
times  by  publicke  authority,  without  the  least  exception 
both  in  Queen  Elizabeth's,  King  James,  and  King  Charles's 
Reignes,  in  which  Almanacke,  the  names  of  the  Popish 
Saints  canonized  by  Popes  and  thrust  into  our  Kalendars 
were  omitted,  and  the  names  of  reall  Saints  and  Martyrs 
mentioned  in  the  Booke  of  Martyrs,  inserted,  just  as  they  are 
in  Master  Fox  his  Kalendar."  And  then,  after  saying  some 
thing  about  Laud,  he  continues  : — "  This  Prelate  being  then 
Bishop  of  London  taking  great  exception  against  this  Al 
manacke,  brought  both  Mr  Gellibrand  and  his  man  into  the 
High  Commission  for  compiling  and  publishing  it,  where  he 
prosecuted  them  with  great  violence."  He  then  describes 
Gellibrand's  defence,  and  says  that,  on  its  conclusion,  Laud 
"  stood  up  in  a  great  passion,  and  publicly  informed  the 
Court,  That  the  Queen  her  selfe  sent  for  him,  and  specially 
complained  against  this  Almanacke,  which  gave  great  offence 
to  those  of  her  religion  ;  and  desired  him  to  prosecute  the 

1  "The  Closet  of  the  Eminently  Learned  Sir  Kenelme  Digbie,  Knt.  Opened." 

2  "Canterburies  Doome,"  p.  186. 


»  i6j»]  Life  Of  Archbishop  Land.  J  5  3 


Author  of  it,  and  suppresse  the  Book  ;  and  therefore  he  hoped 
he  should  not  passe  unpunished  in  this  court." 

Strange  to  say,  the  court  acquitted  the  prisoner  ;  where 
upon  Laud  "  stood  up  again  in  a  fury,  and  said  to  Mr 
Gellibrand,  '  Sir,  Remember  that  you  have  made  Faction 
in  this  court,  for  which  you  ought  to  be  punished  ;  and 
know  that  you  are  not  yet  discharged  hence.  I  will  sit  in 
your  skirts,  for  I  heare  you  keepe  Conventicles  at  Gresham 
College  after  your  Lectures  there.'  Whereupon  he  gave 
Order  for  a  second  prosecution  against  him  in  the  High 
Commission,  which  so  affected  this  good  man,  that  it  put 
him  in  a  Feaver  fit,  whereof  he  died." 

I  will  spare  my  readers  Prynne's  inferences  and  moralizings 
upon  these  incidents. 

Before  ending  this  chapter,  I  will  mention  Laud's  appoint 
ment,  in  the  year  1630,  of  Peter  Heylin,  who  was  to  become 
his  own  biographer  and  the  fierce  opponent  of  Prynne,  as  one 
of  his  private  chaplains.  He  had  been  appointed  historical 
lecturer,  and  had  become  a  writer  on  geographical  and  his 
torical  subjects,  soon  after  taking  his  degree,  and  later  he 
had  studied  theology,  after  which  he  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  Laud,  as  well  as  that  of  many  adverse  critics,  by 
maintaining  that  "  the  Church  of  England  came  from  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  not  from  the  Waldenses,  Wycliffites, 
and  Hussites,"1  in  opposition  to  the  Regius  Professor  of 
Divinity  at  Oxford,  who  took  the  opposite  and,  at  that  time, 
more  usual  view.  A  year  after  Laud  had  made  him  his 
chaplain,  Laud's  enemy,  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  refused 
to  institute  him  to  a  living  in  his  diocese,  for  which  the  king 
had  recommended  him.  "  The  king  retaliated  by  appointing 
Heylin  to  a  prebend  of  Westminster,"  "  of  which  Williams 
was  dean.  From  that  time  forward  it  was  one  of  Heylin's 
favourite  occupations  to  annoy  Williams,  who  was  in  disgrace 
at  Court,  and  make  himself  an  instrument  of  the  royal  ven 
geance."  2  In  this  pursuit  he  is  not  likely  to  have  received 
much  discouragement  from  Laud.  Like  his  master,  Heylin 
was  a  strenuous  advocate  of  the  theory  that  communion-tables 

1  The  Bishop  of  Peterborough's  article  on  Ileylin  ;  "Die.  Nat.  Bio."        2  Ib. 


154  Life  of  A rchbishop  L a ud.  [S?  y630" 

should  be  placed  "  altarwise,"  and  he  discovered,  and  anathe 
matized  in  a  pamphlet,  called  A  Coal  from  the  Altar >  a  letter 
written  by  Williams  to  one  of  his  clergy,  in  which  he  said  that 
they  should  be  placed  "  not  altar-wise,  but  table-wise ; " 
whereupon  Williams,  under  the  veil  of  "  a  Lincolnshire 
clergyman,"  wrote  a  book  in  reply,  entitled  The  Holy  Table, 
Name,  and  TJiing.  To  this  Heylin  retorted  with  another  book, 
Antidotum  Lmcolniense,  and  so  the  game  went  merrily  on, 
until  Williams  was  suspended  and  Heylin  thereby  made 
happy. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

ON  the  1 6th  of  January  1631,  Laud  performed  an  act  which 
afterwards  brought  him  into  trouble.  "  I  Consecrated," 
he  says,  "  St  Catherine  Creed- Church  in  London" 

Here  is  Rushworth's  description  of  the  beginning  of  the 
ceremony.  l  "  At  his  approach  to  the  West  door  of  the 
church,  some  that  were  prepared  for  it,  cry'd  out,  Open,  Open, 
ye  everlasting  Doors,  that  the  King  of  Glory  may  enter  in,  and 
presently  the  doors  were  opened  ;  and  the  Bishop  coming 
in  and  falling  upon  his  Knees,  with  his  Eyes  lifted  up,  and 
his  Arms  spread  abroad,  uttered  these  words  :  This  Place  is 
holy,  the  ground  is  holy,  &c."  This  was  said  by  his  enemies 
to  have  been  taken  from  the  Roman  Pontifical ;  but  Laud 
declared  that  he  only  used  a  form  of  consecration  which  had 
been  practised  by  Bishop  Andrews.  At  his  trial,  he  said  that 
one  of  the  witnesses  had  accused  him,  on  this  occasion,  of 
using  "  many  Bowings  and  Cringings " ;  and  he  protested 
that  "  for  my  kneeling  down  at  my  entrance  to  begin  with 
Prayer,  and  after  to  proceed  with  Reverence,  I  did  but  my 
Duty  in  that,  let  him  scoffingly  call  it  Cringing,  or  Ducking, 
or  what  he  please."  2 

Whether  Andrews  or  Laud  drew  up  this  form  of  consecra 
tion  is  not  of  much  consequence  ;  what  is  certain  is  that 
it  was  something  of  an  adaptation  of  the  Roman  Ritual. 
"  Lift  up  your  gates,  ye  princes,  and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  ever 
lasting  doors,  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in,"3  are 
the  words  used  when  a  Catholic  bishop  is  at  the  threshold 
of  a  church  which  he  is  about  to  consecrate,  and,  if  any  one 
will  take  the  trouble  to  compare  Rushworth's  description  of 

1  "  Hist.  Coll.,"  vol.  ii.  p.  69.  2  "  Hist.,"  p.  340. 

3  "  Order  for  the  Dedication  or  Consecration  of  a  Church."     Manresa  Press, 
Roehampton,  p.  8. 

155 


156  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Laud's  proceedings  on  this  occasion  with  the  Roman  rite, 
he  will  find  many  other  points  of  similarity.  The  going 
through  this  performance,  on  the  part  of  Laud,  was  surely 
very  like  "  playing  at  church  "  ;  for  it  was  quite  unauthorized 
by  his  own  religious  body. 

Laud  continues  : — "  The  same  witness  said  '  that  at  the 
beginning  I  took  up  Dust,  and  threw  it  in  the  Air,  and 
after  used  divers  Curses.'  This  witness  had  need  look 
well  to  his  Oath  ;  for  there  was  no  throwing  up  of  Dust, 
no  Curses  used  throughout  the  whole  Action." 

"  Then  it  was  urged  at  the  Bar,  That  a  prayer  which  I  used, 
was  like  one  that  is  in  the  Pontifical.  So  in  the  Missal  are 
many  Prayers  like  to  the  Collects  used  in  the  English 
Liturgy." 

"  Said  Mr  Brown,  but  the  Treason  is,  To  seek,  by  these 
Ceremonies,  to  overthrow  the  Religion  Established.  Nor  was 
that  ever  sought  by  me :  And  God  of  his  Mercy  Preserve 
the  true  Protestant  Religion  amongst  us." 

Continuing  his  defence  for  using  certain  old  Catholic 
prayers  and  ceremonies  in  the  consecration  of  St  Catherine's 
Cree,  he  said,  "  We  have  separated  the  Chaff,  shall  we  cast 
away  the  Corn  too  ?  If  it  come  to  that,  let  us  take  heed 
we  fall  not  upon  the  Devil's  Winnowing,  who  labours  to 
beat  down  the  Corn  ;  'tis  not  the  Chaff  that  Troubles  him, 
S.  Luc.  22." 

Exactly.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was  on  this 
principle  that  I  once  saw  a  High-Church  Anglican  clergy 
man  celebrating  the  communion  service  with  a  large  copy  of 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  on  the  desk  on  the  communion 
table,  and  a  very  small  copy  of  the  Garden  of  the  Soul, 
opened  at  "The  Ordinary  of  the  Mass,"  lying  beside  it. 
I  asked  him,  afterwards,  his  reasons  for  this,  and  he  said 
that  he  read  aloud  the  prescribed  order  for  holy  communion 
out  of  the  Anglican  prayer  book,  and  interposed,  in  a 
whisper,  such  prayers  out  of  the  Roman  Missal  as  he 
thought  good,  adding  that  this  was  a  common  practice 
among  clergymen  of  his  school.  Like  Laud,  he  probably 
fancied  that  he  was  separating  the  chaff  without  casting 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 5  7 

away  the  corn,  and  as  to  the  "  Devil's  Winnowing,"  he 
would  say  that,  of  the  two  books  upon  the  communion 
table,  "  it  is  not  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  '  that  Troubles 
him,'  S.  Luc.  22.'  "  Both  Laud  and  my  friend  appear  to 
have  forgotten  that  such  Catholic  corn  as  the  Order  for  the 
Consecration  of  Churches  and  the  Ordinary  of  the  Mass  had 
long  ago  been  cast  among  the  chaff  by  the  Church  to 
which  they  belonged  ;  or  it  may  have  been  that  they  were 
uncomfortably  conscious  of  the  fact  that  the  Anglican 
winnowing  machine  was  apt  to  scatter  the  grain  indis 
criminately  with  the  husk. 

The  intimacy  between  Laud  and  King  Charles  continued 
to  increase.  " March  20.  Sunday"  he  writes,  "  His  Majesty 
put  his  Great  Case  of  Conscience  to  me,  about  &c.  Which 
I  after  answered."  What  the  case  of  conscience  was  is  not 
recorded. 

The  king  had  granted  Laud  a  quantity  of  timber  from 
Shotover  to  be  used  in  enlarging  the  buildings  at  St  John's 
College,  and  into  this  work  he  threw  his  whole  heart.  This 
project  he  "  published  "  "  to  the  Colledge  about  the  end  of 
March"  1631,  having  "resolved  on  it  in  November  last." 
The  President  "and  others"  of  St  John's  replied  that  "if 
their  gratitude  were  mute,  the  very  stones  of  their  college 
would,  like  the  statue  of  Memnon,  commemorated  by  Taci 
tus,  give  forth  music  to  his  glory."1  The  first  stone  was  laid 
on  the  26th  of  July,  and  the  work  appears  to  have  gone  on 
apace,  for  just  a  year  later,  much  had  evidently  been  done 
when  Dr  Juxon  wrote  to  Laud,  saying  that2  "if  he  please 
to  disburse  ^"3200,  the  quadrangle  of  St  John's  will  be 
absolutely  uniform,  without  the  least  eye-sore,  more  than 
the  tops  of  the  tunnels  of  the  chimneys  in  the  east  range 
of  the  old  quadrangle,  the  cloisters  being  of  the  largest 
size  that  art  can  allow,  and  the  pillars  of  the  best  stone, 
under  marble,  growing  (sic)  in  that  part  of  England.  The 
cloister  is  of  a  form  not  yet  seen  in  Oxford  (for  that 
under  Jesus  College  Library  is  a  misfeatured  thing),  there 
fore  he  wishes  a  little  extraordinary  charge  might  be 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1631-2,  p.  u.  -  /£.,  1631-3,  p.  287. 


158  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid. 


-Circa  1631. 


bestowed  there,  that  that  wherein  they  are  singular  might 
be  eminent." 

Laud  had  plenty  of  business  to  occupy  him  in  London 
also.  He  received  a  letter  from  Bishop  Hall  of  Exeter,  who 
'  wrote  last  week  to  give  information  about  a  busy,  ignorant 
schismatic,  lurking  in  London.  Now  hears  that  there  are 
eleven  several  congregations  of  separatists  about  the  city, 
furnished  with  their  idly-pretended  pastors,  who  meet  to 
gether  in  brew-houses  every  Sunday." :  What  would  not  a 
Bishop  of  London  give  in  these  days  to  know  that  there  were 
only  eleven  congregations  of  separatists  in  the  metropolis  ? 

Judging  from  the  letters  existing  from  different  parsons, 
begging  Laud  not  to  believe  reports  of  their  misbehaviour, 
he  must  have  kept  his  clergy  in  very  considerable  awe.  As 
to  the  laity,  Laud  sometimes  wrote  to  them  in  a  tone  of 
ironical  banter.  Thus  we  find  a  letter  from  him  in  April 
1631  to  "Sir  John  Lambe  at  Rowell,  co.  Northampton,"  in 
which  he  stated  that  he  "  was  confident  without  his  promise, 
that  Sir  John  would  never  call  the  writer  ad  testiflcandum, 
but  if  he  had  been  ready  for  mirth,  might  have  made  good 
sport  with  he  knows  whom  about  it,  '  for  that 's  the  way  to 
Winchester.'  "  (There  was  a  rumour  shortly  afterwards  that 
Laud  was  to  be  translated  from  London  to  that  see.  So,  at 
least,  says  Nicholas  in  a  letter  to  Pennington.)  "  Observes 
that  he  has  become  a  great  courtier  of  late.  Green's  Norton 
being  in  the  King's  gift,  he  can  give  the  Bishop  notice  of  the 
sickness  of  the  incumbent;  but  Sudborough  being  in  the 
poor  Bishop  of  London's  gift,  and  under  Sir  John's  nose  at 
Rowell,  he  can  send  him  no  word  of  it,  though  the  parson  be 
as  dangerously  sick  as  he  of  Green's  Norton.  To  make 
amends,  begs  him  to  ride  over  to  Sudborough,  and  if  the 
living  be  void,  to  send  exact  word  how  far  it  is  distant  from 
Brackley."2 

In  the  provinces,  as  well  as  in  his  diocese  and  at  Oxford, 
Laud  had  his  worries.  His  friend,  Cozen,  together  with  a 
Dr  Lindsell,  Dean  of  Lichfield,  seems  to  have  spoken  his 
mind  to  Laud,  at  Fulham,  about  the  Bishop  of  Durham,  Cozen Js 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1631-3,  p.  74.  -  Ib.t  p.  10. 


31']  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  159 

bishop.  Whereupon  Laud  wrote  a  letter  to  the  latter  on  the 
subject ;  for  Cozen  informed  Laud  that  the  Bishop  of  Durham 
"  declared  his  great  displeasure  against  Dr  Lindsell  and  the 
writer,  for  the  speech  they  had  with  Bishop  Laud  at  Fulham, 
which  he  calls  'Accusations  and  articles  preferred  against 
him/  and  after  answering  them  caused  Bishop  Laud's  letter 
to  be  publicly  read,  calling  it  a  libel  and  a  saucy  letter." 1 
Cozen  "  hopes  it  will  not  offend  Bishop  Laud  if  he  legally 
refuses  Bishop  Howson's  censure,  he  having  already  declared 
himself  against  the  writer." 

Laud  seems  to  have  used  his  influence  with  the  king  on 
Cozen's  behalf  against  his  bishop  ;  for  the  latter  (the  Bishop 
of  Durham)  wrote  to  Laud,  saying  that  "  his  Majesty  also 
required  Bishop  Howson  to  desist  from  his  proceeding  against 
Dr  Lindsell  and  Dr  Cozen,  upon  pretence  of  ordering  the 
public  prayers,  wherein  his  Majesty  has  been  misinformed."  2 
He  goes  on  to  say  that  he  "  conceives  that  he  has  suffered 
more  than  ever  was  offered  to  a  Bishop  of  Durham." 

As  the  summer  of  1631  advanced,  there  were  "great  dis 
orders  " 3  at  Laud's  beloved  Oxford.  An  appeal  was  made 
by  "  Mr  Foord  of  Magdalen  Hall,  and  Mr  Thome  of  Baliol 
Colledge,"  against  some  decision  given  by  Laud's  own  vice- 
chancellor,  and  the  two  proctors  had  actually  had  the 
effrontery  to  receive  their  appeal,  "  as  if  it  had  not  been 
perturbatio  pads,  &c"  This,  of  course,  was  very  shocking, 
and  the  vice-chancellor  appealed  to  the  king.  "  The  King 
with  all  the  Lords  of  his  Council  then  present,  heard  the 
Cause  at  Woodstock,  Aug.  23,  1631,  being  Tuesday  in  the 
After-noon."  Mr  Foord,  Mr  Thorne,  and  a  Mr  Hodges  of 
Exeter  College,  were  "  banished  the  University,"  and  "  both 
the  Proctors  were  commanded  to  come  into  the  Convocation 
House,  and  there  resign  their  Office."  Besides  this,  the 
Rector  of  Exeter  and  the  Principal  of  Magdalen  Hall 
"  received  a  sharp  admonition  for  their  misbehaviour  in  this 
business."  Therefore  the  Oxford  Dons  were  given  pretty 
clearly  to  understand  that  Laud  intended  to  be  obeyed  and 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1631-3,  p.  152.  2  /<£.,  p.  190. 

3  Diary,  p.  46. 


160  Life  of  Archbishop  La^td. 

respected,  as  their  chancellor,  and  that  the  king  would 
support  him  in  all  that  he  did. 

On  the  fourth  of  November,  the  queen  had  another  child, 
"  the  Lady  Mary,  Princess,  born  at  St  James's,  inter  Jwras 
quintam  and  sextain  matutinas.  It  was  thought,  she  was  born 
three  weeks  before  her  time."1  Laud  baptized  her,  in  the 
chapel  at  St  James's.2 

The  court  had  worries  about  this  time  concerning  the  king's 
sister,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  Her  husband,  the  ex-king 
of  that  country,  had  not  only  lost  his  crown  and  kingdom, 
but  also  his  own  dominions  in  the  Palatine.  The  terrible 
Thirty  Years'  War  had  begun,  and  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
King  of  Sweden,  was  just  at  this  time  showing  "himself 
one  of  the  greatest  leaders  that  ever  commanded  an  army,"  3 
at  the  head  of  the  Protestant  League.  England  had  not  yet 
joined  in  the  war  ;  but  many  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen 
were  serving  in  the  Swedish  army,  and  there  was  a  strong 
feeling  in  England  in  favour  of  the  Protestant  cause,  which 
was  increased  by  the  interest  which  was  felt  in  the  fate  of 
the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  sister  to  King  Charles.  Without 
formally  joining  in  the  war,  Charles  prevailed  upon  the 
Marquess  of  Hamilton  to  levy  6000  men,  with  which,  at 
Charles's  expense,  he  was  to  join  the  army  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  Hamilton  took  an  active  part  in  the  campaign 
terminating  with  the  battle  of  Leipsic ;  but,  not  content  with 
this,  Gustavus  Adolphus  asked  Charles  to  send  to  his  assist 
ance  an  English  army  of  20,000  foot  and  5000  horse,  a  request 
with  which  he  was  unable  to  comply,  very  greatly  to  the 
annoyance  of  his  sister,  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  Immediately 
after  the  birth  of  his  thirteenth  child, 4  the  King  of  Bohemia 
set  forth  to  join  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  the  war;  About  this 
time  Sir  Henry  Vane,  as  ambassador  from  King  Charles, 
attempted  to  negotiate  with  Gustavus  Adolphus  for  the 
restoration  of  the  Palatinate  to  the  King  of  Bohemia. 
Much  unpleasantness  resulted  between  Charles  and  his 

1  Diary,  p.  46.      2  Strickland,  "  Lives  of  the  Eng.  Queens,"  chap.  viii.  p.  61. 

3  Freeman's  "General  Sketch,"  p.  281. 

4  Green's  "  Princesses  of  Eng.,"  vol.  v.  p.  493. 


sister  as  to  the  conditions  offered.  Charles  wanted  one  thing 
and  his  sister  another  ;  the  terms  thought  good  enough  by 
the  former  were  considered  very  offensive  by  the  latter.  The 
foundation  was  thus  laid  for  affairs  into  which  Laud  was  to 
be  drawn  by-and-bye ;  and  already,  even  in  December  1631, 
the  Queen  of  Bohemia  had  begun  to  enlist  the  services  of 
Laud  on  her  own  behalf  with  her  brother,  King  Charles  ;  for 
Laud  writes  that  he  "  has  always  been  ready  to  do  her 
service  with  the  King  his  master.  No  brother  can  be  fuller 
of  kindness  and  care  for  her  good  and  that  of  her  children, 
and  hopes  she  will  have  joy  in  the  end  for  his  wise  and 
prudent  and  affectionate  care  of  them."  l 

How  far  his  correspondent  appreciated  her  brother's 
"kindness  and  care  for  her  good"  maybe  inferred  from  a 
letter  which  she  wrote  in  the  same  year  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe, 
whom  she  addresses  as  "  Honest  Tom."  Speaking  of  her 
"dear  brother,"  she  says: — "we  are  not  made  acquainted 
with  anything  that  he  treats  there  though  they  say  that  it  is 
for  our  good.  You  may  judge  what  comfort  that  is  to  us  " 
(that  is  to  say  her  husband  and  herself),  "  to  be  used  as  little 
children  that  cannot  keep  counsel ;  for  when  we  desire  to 
know  what  is  treated,  we  are  answered  that  it  is  not  fit,  that 
such  things  should  be  divulged  abroad."2 

Laud  was  much  interested  in  a  more  private  matter  nearer 
home.  A  godchild  of  his  own,  Chillingworth,  a  son  of  a 
mayor  of  Oxford,  and  a  Fellow  of  Trinity,  was  employed 
by  Laud  as  a  spy  and  commissioned  to  send  him  a  weekly 
budget  of  information  from  Oxford.  It  was  by  means  of  a 
letter  from  him  that  Laud  obtained  the  conviction  and  the 
passing  of  a  tremendous  sentence  upon  Alexander  Gill,  an 
usher  of  St  Paul's  School,  and  a  tutor  of  Milton's.  Of  this 
matter,  even  an  admirer  of  Laud's  like  Mr  Benson,  says  :— 
"  It  is  rather  a  revolting  story  :  it  argues  that  if  Chilling- 
worth  was  nothing  more  than  indiscreet  in  writing  it,  Laud 
was  nothing  less  than  unscrupulous  in  using  it."3 

About    the    year     1630,    this    pet    instrument    of    Laud's 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1631-3,  p.  196. 
2  German  Correspondence,  1631.  3  Benson,  p.  95. 


1 62  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

greatly  misbehaved  himself.  I  will  let  Wood l  describe  what 
happened.  "  Being  unsettled  in  his  thoughts,  he  became 
acquainted  with  one  who  went  by  the  name  of  John  Fisher" — 
this  was  the  Father  Fisher  with  whom  Laud  had  had  his  famous 
controversy — "a  learned  Jesuit  and  sophistical  disputant, 
who  was  often  conversant  in  these  parts.  [Oxford.]  At 
length  by  his  persuasions,  and  for  the  satisfaction  of  some 
doubts  which  he  could  not  find  among  our  great  men  at 
home,  he  went  to  the  Jesuit  College  of  St  Omer,  forsook  his 
religion,  and  by  these  motives  following,  which  he  left  among 
them  under  his  own  hand,  became  a  Roman  Catholic." 

His  "  Ten  Reasons"  form  no  part  of  a  Life  of  Laud;  but 
he  afterwards  wrote  a  kind  of  Apologia,  and  to  this  Laud 
replied  by  personal  letters,  with  the  result  of  inducing  him 
to  return  to  Oxford.  So,  at  least,  says  Mr  Benson  ; 2  but 
Wood's  account  is  "  that  he  finding  not  that  satisfaction  from 
the  Jesuits  concerning  various  points  of  religion,  or  (as  some 
say)  not  that  respect  which  he  expected  (for  the  common 
report  among  his  contemporaries  in  Trinity  College  was  that 
the  Jesuits,  to  try  his  temper  and  exercise  his  obedience,  did 
put  him  upon  servile  duties  far  below  him),  he  left  them  in 
the  year  1631,  returned  to  the  Church  of  England  (though 
the  Presbyterians  said  not,  but  that  he  was  always  a  Papist 
in  his  heart),  and  was  kindly  received  by  his  godfather,  Dr 
Laud,  then  Bishop  of  London." 

Some  light  is  thrown  upon  the  subject  by  a  letter  written 
to  Laud  in  March  1632,  from  which,  by  the  way,  it  would 
appear  that  Chillingworth  had  not  yet  formally  returned  to 
the  Church  of  England,  by  Dr  Juxon,  afterwards  himself 
Bishop  of  London,  and  one  who  would  not  be  likely  to 
minimise  the  value  of  Chillingworth's  restoration  to  Angli 
canism  if  he  could  honestly  avoid  doing  so.  In  his  opinion, 
Chillingworth  is  "Ambitious  to  be  Bishop  Laud's  convert; 
for,"  he  thinks,  "  all  his  motives  are  not  spiritual,  protest  he 
never  so  much.  "  3 

Mr  Benson  admits  that,  after  his  return  to  Anglicanism, 

1  Wood's  "  Athen.  Oxon.,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  40  and  following,  Ed.  1721. 
2  Benson,  p.  95.  3  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1631-3,  p.  290. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 63 

"  he  had  scruples  about  subscription  " ;  but  he  states  that 
"  Laud  overcame  them,  and  made  him  Canon  of  Salisbury 
and  master  of  a  hospital  at  Leicester."  The  contemporary 
Jesuit,  Father  Knott,  wrote  of  him,  that  "  the  profession  of 
Catholic  religion  not  suiting  to  his  desires  and  designs,  he  fell 
upon  Socinianism,  that  is  no  religion  at  all."  x 

In  1632,  Laud  received  a  letter  which  must  have  caused 
him  scandal  as  well  as  annoyance. 2  It  informed  him  that 
the  vice-chancellor  at  the  sister  university  had  committed 
suicide.  The  letter  is  recorded  thus  : — "  To  Bishop  Laud. 
Relates  the  history  of  the  suicide  of  Dr  Butts,  Vice-Chan 
cellor  of  Cambridge."  "  On  Easter  Sunday  he  lay  in  bed, 
but  said  he  was  well  and  cheerful,  bade  his  wife  go  to  church, 
and  when  she  was  gone,  charged  his  servants  to  go  down  for 
half  an  hour,  for  he  would  take  a  rest.  He  then  rose  in  his 
shirt,  bolted  the  door,  took  the  kerchief  about  his  head  and 
hanged  himself." 

In  June  1632,  to  Laud's  great  delight,  "  Mr  Francis 
Windebancke  my  Old  Friend  was  sworn  Secretary  of  State ; 
which  place  I  obtained  for  him  of  my  Gracious  Master  King 
Charles." 3  Undoubtedly,  Laud  would  not  have  obtained 
this  post  for  him,  could  he  have  foreseen  that  he  would 
become  a  Catholic.  Windebank,  however,  had  for  a  long 
time,  been  a  great  friend  to  Catholics,4  and  the  very  entry 
above  quoted  was  brought  in  evidence  against  Laud  at  his 
trial.  He  was  accused  of  "his  familiarity  and  commerce 
with  the  Jesuits,  priests,  and  those  most  affected  to  the 
Popish  faction.  The  first  was  Secretary  Windebank,  the 
greatest  and  most  visible  protector  of  the  priests." 5  Indeed, 
only  three  years  after  his  appointment  as  Secretary  of  State, 
we  find  him  giving  a  discharge  for  Laud's  old  enemy,  Father 
Fisher,  who  was  then  imprisoned  for  being  a  Jesuit  in  Eng- 

1  "  A  Direction  to  N.  N.  being  an  admonition  to  Mr  Chillingworth  to  attend 
to  his  own  Arguments,"  by  Father  Edward  Knott,  S.J. 

"  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1631-4,  p.  302.  Also,  partly  in  Masson's  "Life  of 
Milton." 

*  Diary,  p.  47. 

4  "  Records  of  the  Eng.  Prov.  S.J."  Series  I,  p.  252,  Note. 

5  "  Kingdom's  Intelligencer."     King's  Pamphlets,  No.  167.     British  Museum. 


1 64  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  [£rtca59l632' 

land.  "  Theis  are  to  will  and  require  you  forthwith  to 
enlarge  and  sett  at  liberty  the  body  of  John  Peers  [Percy, 
als  Fisher,  now  prisoner  in  your  charge,  for  wch  this  shall 
be  yr  warrant. — FRAN.  WlNDEBANK." 1 

Within  a  month  of  his  success  in  obtaining  the  Secretary 
ship  of  State  for  Windebank,  Laud  had  the  satisfaction  of 
writing  as  follows  in  his  Diary.  "  Doctor  Juxon,  then  Dean 
of  Worcester,  at  my  suit  sworn  Clark  of  his  Majestie's 
Closet.  That  I  might  have  one  I  might  trust  near  his 
Majesty,  if  I  grow  weak  or  infirm  ;  as  I  must  have  a  time." 

Juxon  was  a  man  who  had  the  good  luck  to  live  through 
troublous  times  without  incurring  much  personal  trouble, 
although  a  High-Churchman.  He  held  several  important 
offices,  became  Bishop  of  London,  and  attended  Charles  I. 
on  the  scaffold.  Then,  instead  of  being  prosecuted  or 
persecuted,  he  went  quietly  to  an  estate  he  possessed  in 
Gloucestershire,  and  became  a  master  of  hounds.  At  the 
Restoration,  he  returned  to  London  and  was  made  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury,  eventually  dying  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
one. 

In  September  1632,  a  religious  function  took  place  in 
Laud's  diocese,  which  can  scarcely  have  failed  to  give  him 
intense  annoyance.  This  was  the  laying  of  the  founda 
tion  stone  of  a  Catholic  church,  in  the  tennis-courtyard  of 
Somerset  House.2  Another  Catholic  church  was  begun  at 
St  James's,  and,  a  year  or  two  later,  mass  was  said  in  these 
two  chapels  with  more  ceremony  than  had  been  possible  in 
England  for  a  long  period ;  but  of  this  I  will  say  more  in 
due  course. 

The  year  1632  closed  quietly  for  Laud.  It  is  true  that 
the  king  had  small-pox  on  the  second  of  December ;  but, 
Laud  tells  us,  "  he  had  a  very  gentle  disease  of  it,"  and  he 
was  sufficiently  recovered  by  Christmas  day  for  Laud  to 
preach  to  him.  The  court,  however,  was  in  mourning,  the 
King  of  Bohemia  having  died  in  the  previous  month,  and 

1  Dom.  Charles  L,  vol.  ccxcv.  No.  57,  1635. 

2  Pery's  "News  Letter;"  Ellis's   "Original   Letters,"  New  series,  vol.   iii., 
p.  271. 


irtca59l632']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  165 

Laud  wrote  on  the  2/th  of  December  :  —  "  The  Earl  of 
Arundel  szt  forward  towards  the  Low  Countries,  to  fetch  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia  and  her  children."  On  the  whole,  although 
there  were  incidents  in  plenty  connected  with  Laud's  affairs, 
they  were  not  of  any  great  or  immediate  importance  to  him 
self,  personally.  It  was  very  different  in  the  year  1633. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

IN  the  spring  of  the  year  1633,  Charles  I.  started  for  Scotland, 
taking  Laud  with  him.  The  ostensible  object  of  his  journey 
was  to  be  crowned  king  of  that  country.  He  was  attended 
by  an  imposing  train  of  English  noblemen,  and  the  whole 
expedition  was  one  great  state  progress.  He  had  intended 
to  make  a  triumphal  entrance  into  the  great  northern  city  of 
York ;  but  "  the  Day  was  extream  Windy  and  Rainy,  that 
he  could  not " ;  and  here  Laud  makes  one  of  his  wretched 
attempts  at  a  joke  :— "  I  called  it  York-Friday '." l 

Even  in  passing  through  York,  Laud  had  an  eye  to 
furthering  his  own  ecclesiastical  policy.  A  letter,  written  in 
the  hand  of  his  secretary,  copied  from  one  by  the  king  to  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  York  immediately  after  his  visit,  can 
scarcely  be  doubted  to  have  been  the  result  of  Laud's  own 
suggestion.  It  may  be,  indeed,  that  this  was  the  original 
draft  written  at  Laud's  dictation,  for  the  king's  approval  and 
use.  It  says  that 2  "  the  King,  when  lately  in  the  Chapter  of 
St  Peter,  in  York,  there  to  give  God  thanks  for  his  safety  thus 
far  onward  of  his  journey,  observed  "  that  houses  were  built 
against  the  very  walls  of  the  cathedral,  and  one  inside  it. 
"The  King  commands  that  the  persons  addressed  neither 
build  nor  suffer  any  dwelling-house  or  stable  to  be  erected 
within  or  without  the  cathedral  ;  and  that  the  house  within 
the  cross  aisle  be  forthwith  pulled  down."  He  also  observed 
"  when  he  came  into  the  quire,"  that,  "  there  had  been  a 
removing  of  seats  which  were  placed  there  for  the  use  of 
the  wives  of  deans  and  prebendaries,  and  other  women  of 
quality."  These  were  to  be  taken  away  at  once;  "a  fair 
seat "  was  "  to  be  left  or  made  upon  the  north  side  of  the 
quire  above  the  stalls,  for  the  Lord  President's  lady  and  her 

1  Diary,  p.  48.  2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  72. 

166 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  167 

company,  and  no  other."  We  have  all  been  accustomed  to 
hear  that  Cromwell  made  a  stable  in  this  church  or  the 
other ;  but,  from  the  above,  it  would  appear  that  precedents 
had  been  set  for  such  desecrations  under  the  monarchy. 

On  arriving  at  Edinburgh,  the  king  received  an  enthusiastic 
welcome;  but  the  Bishop  of  the  Isles  was  injudicious  enough 
to  say  to  him  at  dinner,  that  the  Scots  were  likely  enough  to 
imitate  the  Jews,  and  that  their  hosannas  at  his  entry  might 
be  changed,  by-and-bye,  for  "  Away  with  him,  crucify  him," 
whereupon  the  king  became  very  serious  and  ate  no  more.1 

Of  the  coronation  itself,  Laud  says  : — "  Tuesday  after 
Trinity -Sunday,  King  Charles  Crowned  at  Holy  rood-Church 
in  Edinburgh.  I  never  saw  more  expressions  of  Joy  than 
were  after  it."  Of  this  memorandum  in  Laud's  Diary, 
D'Israeli  writes  as  follows  2  : — "  Laud  was  too  poor  a  poli 
tician,  in  the  impetuosity  of  his  temper,  when  on  this  very 
occasion  he  pushed  aside  one  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  who 
would  not  be  clad  in  the  sacred  vestments — to  detect  the 
serpent  which  was  sleeping  under  the  flowers."  This  is  put 
strongly  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  deny  that  there  is  a  modicum 
of  truth  in  it. 

The  coronation  ceremony  was  performed  by  the  Bishop 
of  St  Andrews,  and  there  were  no  great  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  carrying  it  out  with  some  pomp  and  show  of 
ecclesiastical  order ;  for,  although  the  cathedral  churches  of 
Scotland  had  fallen  into  neglect,  "  the  King's  own  Chappel 
at  Holy-rood-House  had  still  been  maintain'd  with  the  comeli 
ness  of  the  Cathedral  Service,  and  all  other  Decencies  used 
in  the  Royal  Chapel."  : 

The  day  after  his  coronation,  the  king  opened  the  Scottish 
Parliament,  in  which  friction  soon  began  to  make  itself 
manifest.  When  the  Parliament  was  asked  to  confirm  the 
Statutes  empowering  the  Crown  to  regulate  the  apparel  of 
the  clergy,  a  stout  resistance  was  made.  Pointing  to  a  paper 
which  he  held  in  his  hand,  Charles  said  : — "  Your  names  are 

1  MS.  Letter  of  1633,  quoted  by  Lingard. 

2  "  Life  and  Reign  of  Ch.  I.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  207. 

3  Clarendon's  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  i.  p.  82. 


1 68  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

here !  to-day  I  shall  see  who  are  willing  to  serve  me."  As 
D'Israeli  points  out,  Laud  may  not  have  shown  very  delicate 
tact  in  his  behaviour  in  Scotland  ;  but  can  more  be  said  for 
his  royal  master  ? 

On  his  last  Sunday  in  Edinburgh,  Laud  preached  before 
the  king  "  in  the  Chappel  in  Holyrood- House."  The  next 
day  he  started  for  a  tour  through  the  country,  visiting  St 
Andrews,  Dundee,  Falkland,  St  Johnston,  Dunblain,  Stir 
ling — in  travelling  to  which  town  he  had  a  "  dangerous  and 
cruel  Journey,  crossing  part  of  the  Highlands  by  Coach,  which 
was  a  Wonder  there," — "  Lithgow,  and  so  to  Edinburgh  " 
again.  Two  days  later  he  started  for  London. 

In  this  expedition  to  Scotland,  Charles,  as  Clarendon  tells 
us,1  "proposed  nothing  more  to  himself,  than  to  Unite  his 
three  Kingdoms  in  one  Form  of  God's  Worship,  and  publick 
Devotions."  "To  that  end,  the  then  Bishop  of  London,  Dr 
Laud,  attended  on  his  Majesty  throughout  that  whole  journey, 
which,  as  he  was  Dean  of  the  Chapel,  he  was  not  obliged  to 
do,  and  no  doubt  would  have  been  excus'd  from,  if  that 
Design  had  not  been  in  view ;  to  accomplish  which  he  was 
no  less  solicitous  than  the  King  himself,  nor  the  King  less 
solicitous  for  his  advice.  He  Preach'd  in  the  Royal  Chapel 
at  Edenbourgh  (which  scarce  any  English-man,  had  ever 
done  before  in  the  King's  presence)  and  principally  upon 
the  benefit  of  Conformity,  and  the  reverend  Ceremonies  of 
the  Church."  Or  as  D'Israeli  describes  it : — "  By  the  side  of 
Charles  stood  his  evil  genius — the  Kirk-party  scowled,  as 
the  Bishop  of  London  in  his  rochet  preached  on  the  benefit 
of  Conformity  and  the  sacredness  of  Ceremonies,  from  that 
pulpit,  whence  Knox  had  thundered  on  their  eternal  aboli 
tion."  2  All  this  was  better  received  than  might  have  been 
expected,  and  Clarendon  remarks  that  "  many  Wise  Men " 
were  of  opinion  that  "if  the  King  had  then  propos'd  the 
Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England  to  have  been  then  receiv'd 
and  practised  by  that  Nation,  it  would  have  been  submitted 
to  without  opposition."  Instead  of  doing  this,  Charles 

1  "Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,"  vol.  i.  p.  82. 

2  "Life  and  Reign  of  Ch.  I.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  206. 


L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  1 69 

hesitated.  "  Laud,  indeed,"  says  Lingard,1  "  laboured  strenu 
ously  to  establish  at  once  the  English  liturgy;  but  his 
reasoning  and  influence  were  compelled  to  yield  to  the 
obstinacy  of  the  Scottish  bishops,  who  deemed  it  a  disgrace 
to  their  country  to  owe  either  the  service  or  the  discipline  of 
their  Church  to  their  English  neighbours."  The  king,  ac 
cordingly,  assigned  the  task  of  compiling  a  new  code  of 
ecclesiastical  law,  as  well  as  a  liturgy,  to  four  of  the  Scotch 
bishops,  and  their  efforts  were  to  be  submitted  for  revision  to 
Laud,  and  two  other  English  bishops. 

It  took  Laud  a  fortnight  and  a  day  to  travel  from  Edin 
burgh  to  London :  the  king  arrived  there  a  day  or  two 
before  him. 

Eight  days  after  Laud's  return  to  Fulham,  an  event 
occurred  of  the  greatest  importance  to  him.  He  writes  an 
account  of  it  somewhat  abruptly.  "Aug.  4.  Sunday,  News 
came  to  Court  of  the  Lord  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterbury's 
Death ;  and  the  King  resolved  presently  to  give  it  to  me. 
Which  he  did  Aug.  6." 

Clarendon  describes  this  at  great  length.2  After  saying 
that  Laud  went  to  see  the  king  on  his  return,  he  adds : — 
"  His  Majesty  entertained  him  chearfully  with  this  Compela- 
tion,  My  Lords  Grace  of  Canterbury,^//  are  very  welcome, 
and  gave  order  the  same  day  for  the  despatch  of  all  the 
necessary  forms  for  the  Translation :  so  that  within  a  Month 
or  thereabouts  after  the  death  of  the  other  Arch-Bishop,  he 
was  compleatly  invested  in  that  high  Dignity,  and  settled  in 
his  Palace  at  Lambeth''  A  few  lines  further  on,  he  says, 
"  that  his  Promotion  to  Canterbury  was  long  foreseen,  and 
was  expected  ;  nor  was  it  attended  with  any  increase  of  envy 
or  dislike."  Perhaps  he  thought  that  there  had  been  enough 
of  each  already. 

The  paragraphs  which  follow  bear  so  much  upon  the 
subject  of  my  biography  that  I  shall  venture  to  make  a 
few  quotations  from  them,  and  I  shall  do  so  the  more 
readily,  because  the  threshold  of  his  greatest  advancement 
in  life  seems  a  fitting  occasion  to  consider  his  character. 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v.  •  Vol.  i.  p.  89. 


170  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  Et?^.633' 

"  He "  (Laud)  "  was  a  Man  of  great  Parts,  and  very  ex 
emplary  Virtues,  allay'd  and  discredited  by  some  unpopular 
natural  Infirmities  ;  the  greatest  of  which  was  (besides  a 
hasty,  sharp  way  of  expressing  himself)  that  he  believ'd 
Innocence  of  Heart,  and  Integrity  of  Manners,  was  a  guard 
strong  enough  to  secure  any  Man  in  his  Voyage  through 
this  World,  in  what  Company  soever  he  travell'd,  and 
through  what  Ways  soever  he  was  to  pass :  and  sure  never 
Man  was  better  supplied  with  that  Provision."  I  beg  my 
readers  carefully  to  consider  this  criticism,  as  it  is  one  to 
which  my  own  studies  of  the  history  of  Laud  greatly 
incline  me. 

A  little  later  he  says: — "When  he  came  into  great 
Authority,  it  may  be,  he  retain'd  too  keen  a  memory  of 
Those  who  had  so  unjustly,  and  uncharitably  Persecuted 
him  before  ;  and  I  doubt,  was  so  far  transported  with  the 
same  Passions  he  had  reason  to  complain  of  in  his  Ad 
versaries,  that,  as  they  accus'd  Him  of  Popery,  because  he 
had  some  doctrinal  Opinions  which  they  liked  not,  though 
they  were  nothing  ally'd  to  Popery ;  so  he  entertain'd  too 
much  prejudice  to  some  Persons,  as  if  They  were  Enemies 
to  the  Discipline  of  the  Church,  because  they  concurr'd  with 
Calvin  in  some  doctrinal  Points ;  when  they  abhorr'd  his 
Discipline,  and  reverenced  the  Government  of  the  Church, 
and  pray'd  for  the  peace  of  it  with  as  much  Zeal,  and 
Fervency  as  any  in  the  Kingdom ;  as  they  made  manifest  in 
their  Lives,  in  their  Sufferings  with  it,  and  for  it." 

I  am  afraid  that  there  is  some  truth  in  what  Clarendon 
says  as  to  his  having  been  "  transported  with  the  same 
Passions  he  had  reason  to  complain  of  in  his  Adversaries." 
The  natural  man  in  Laud  was  good,  straightforward,  and 
honest ;  but  he  was  sadly  lacking  in  what  Catholics  term 
supernatural  grace. 

But  to  continue : — "  He  was  a  Man  of  great  Courage  and 
Resolution,  and  being  most  assur'd  within  himself,  that  he 
propos'd  no  end  in  all  his  actions  and  designs,  but  what 
was  Pious  and  Just  (as  sure  no  man  had  ever  a  heart  more 
entire  to  the  King,  the  Church,  or  his  Country)  he  never 


2tr.cL1633']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 7 1 

studied  the  easiest  ways  to  those  ends :  he  thought,  it  may 
be,  that  any  art  or  industry  that  way  would  discredit,  at 
least  make  the  Integrity  of  the  end  suspected,  let  the  cause 
be  what  it  will.  He  did  court  Persons  too  little  ;  nor  cared 
to  make  his  designs,  and  purposes,  appear  as  candid  as  they 
were,  by  showing  them  in  any  other  dress  than  their  own 
natural  beauty,  though  perhaps  in  too  rough  a  manner  ;  and 
did  not  consider  enough  what  men  said,  or  were  like  to  say 
of  him.  If  the  faults,  and  Vices  were  fit  to  be  look'd  into, 
and  discover'd,  let  the  Persons  be  who  they  would  that  were 
guilty  of  them,  they  were  sure  to  find  no  connivance  of 
Favour  from  him.  He  intended  the  Discipline  of  the 
Church  should  be  felt,  as  well  as  spoken  of,  and  that  it 
should  be  applied  to  the  greatest  and  most  splendid 
Transgressors,  as  well  as  to  the  punishment  of  smaller 
Offences,  and  meaner  Offenders."  And  he  goes  on  to  say 
that  "  Persons  of  Honour,  and  great  Quality,  of  the  Court, 
and  of  the  Country,  were  every  day  cited  into  the  High- 
Commission  Court,  upon  the  fame  of  their  Incontinence, 
or  other  Scandal  in  their  lives,  and  were  there  prosecuted 
to  their  Shame,  and  Punishment :  " — it  is  almost  impossible 
to  help  reflecting  how  busy  he  would  have  been  on  this 
score,  had  he  lived  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  instead  of  in 
that  of  Charles  I.—"  and  as  the  Shame  (which  they  call'd 
an  Insolent  Triumph  upon  their  Degree  and  Quality,  and 
levelling  Them  with  the  common  People)  was  never  for 
gotten,  but  watch'd  for  revenge ;  so  the  Fines  impos'd  there 
were  the  more  question'd,  and  repin'd  against,  because  they 
were  assign'd  to  the  rebuilding,  and  repairing  St  Paul's 
Church  ;  and  thought  therefore  to  be  the  more  Severely 
impos'd,  and  the  less  Compassionately  reduc'd  and  excus'd  : 
which  likewise  made  the  jurisdiction  and  rigour  of  the  Star- 
Chamber  more  felt,  and  murmur'd  against,  and  sharpen'd 
many  men's  humours  against  the  Bishops,  before  they  had 
any  ill  Intention  towards  the  Church." 

Some  of  my  readers,  whose  clergymen  are  engaged  in 
restoring  their  churches,  may  be  able  to  sympathize  with 
these  people  of  "  Quality,"  if  they  will  try  to  imagine  their 


172  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [iSlo1.633' 

parsons  empowered  to  fine  them,  and  devoting  the  fines  so 
obtained  to  their  building  funds.  Could  anything  be  more 
galling  ? 

The  contrast  between  these  fines  wrung  from  angry 
offenders,  and  the  method  by  which  funds  were  raised  for  the 
erection  of  many  Catholic  cathedrals  is  very  great.  I  am 
referring  to  the  so-called  "  sale  of  Indulgences ! "  The 
Church  has,  at  times,  published  to  her  children,  in  her  exercise 
of  that  power  of  the  Keys  given  to  Peter  and  his  successors, 
that  the  temporal  penalties,  or  canonical  penances,  due  for 
their  sins — these  being  first  duly  repented  of  and  forgiven — 
were  by  her  commuted,  wholly  or  in  part,  for  other  works  of 
piety,  amongst  the  rest  for  alms  given  towards  the  building 
of  a  Church  or  Hospital.  Surely  voluntary  penitential  offer 
ings  of  this  kind  were  more  likely  to  lead  to  the  benefit  of 
the  souls  of  the  sinners  than  Laud's  fines  ! 

Everybody  was  not  of  the  king's  opinion  that  Laud  was 
the  man  best  fitted  to  be  appointed  to  the  See  of  Canter 
bury.  A  certain  Justinian  Paget  writes  to  his  cousin  : l— 
"  You  may  be  confident  that  Dr  Laud  is  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  ;  for  his  conge  d?  eslire  was  returned  the  last  week, 
and  it  is  said  the  king  hath  given  his  royal  assent ;  but  it 
seems  every  man  hath  not ;  for  it  is  said  that  a  preacher  in 
London,  in  his  prayer,  prayed  God  not  to  send  a  Bonner  or 
a  persecutor  of  the  Church  among  them  ;  as  if  he  thought 
Dr  Laud  would  be  such  an  one." 

The  very  day  that  fortune  favoured  Laud  by  the  death  of 
Abbott,  he  was  offered,  he  tells  us,  a  still  greater  honour  than 
an  archbishopric,  namely,  to  be  made  a  Prince  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  He  writes  : — "Aug.  4.  That  very  Morning,  at  Green 
wich,  there  came  one  to  me,  Seriously,  and  that  avowed 
ability  to  perform  it,  and  offered  me  to  be  a  Cardinal  :  I 
went  presently  to  the  King,  and  acquainted  him  both  with 
the  Thing,  and  the  Person." 

It  is  one  thing  to  avow  that  one  can  obtain  a  favour  for  a 
friend,  and  another  to  do  so  !  Let  me  quote  Laud's  ortho 
dox  modern  Anglican  biographer,  Dean  Hook,  on  this  in- 

1  "  Court  and  Times  of  Charles  L,"  vol.  ii.  p.  227. 


33-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 73 

cident.1  "  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  person  who  made 
this  offer  acted  with  authority ;  it  was  probably  a  trap  to 
make  the  bishop,  now  almost  expecting  the  primacy,  commit 
himself  to  the  contempt  of  the  Romanists  and  to  the  increased 
malevolence  of  the  Puritans." 

In  this  I  so  far  agree  with  Dean  Hook  that  I  cannot  believe 
the  offer  of  a  cardinal's  hat  to  have  been  made  with  authority. 
Very  likely  some  Catholic — possibly,  nay,  not  improbably, 
the  queen  herself  may  have  said  something  of  this  sort : — 
"  If  you  will  become  a  Catholic,  I  have  no  doubt  I  can  get 
the  Pope  to  send  you  a  Cardinal's  biretta  !  "  His  formal 
abjuration  of  the  Anglican  heresy  would  obviously  have  been 
a  sine  qua  non. 

Heylin  quotes  Andreas  ab  Habernfield  to  the  effect  that 
Con  "  had  a  command  to  make  offer  of  a  Cardinal's  cap  to 
the  Lord  Archbishop  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  of  Rome ;  and 
that  he  should  allure  him  also  with  higher  promises," — this 
he  well  might,  by  those  of  heaven  and  eternal  happiness, 
which  are  much  higher  things  than  "  Cardinals'  caps  " ;  but 
the  only  higher  earthly  honour  could  be  the  Popedom,  which 
even  the  Pope  himself  would  not  have  it  in  his  power  to  offer 
— "  that  he  might  corrupt  his  sincere  mind  ;  yet  a  fitting 
occasion  was  never  offered  whereby  he  might  insinuate  him 
self  into  the  Lord  Archbishop,  &c."  2  All  this,  I  think  with 
Dean  Hook,  should  be  accepted  with  great  reservation,  if, 
indeed,  with  any  credence  whatever.  The  opinion  of  Lingard, 
as  the  principal  Catholic  English  historian,  is  worth  quoting 
on  this  question.  After  giving  certain  evidence  on  the  sub 
ject,  he  winds  up  by  saying8  : — "  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
the  proposal  of  the  cardinal's  hat  came  to  the  new  archbishop 
from  Queen  Henrietta,  under  the  notion  that  there  might  be 
some  truth  in  the  reports,  which  had  been  so  long  current,  of 
Laud's  secret  attachment  to  the  Roman  Catholic  creed." 

In  considering  this  question,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
how  apt  foreign  Catholics  are  to  rush  to  the  conclusion  that 

1  Hook's  "Lives  of  the  Archps.  of  Cant.,"  vol.  xi.  pp.  231-2. 

2  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  pp.  386  and  foil. 

3  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap,  v.,  Footnote. 


174  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  Hi?*?33' 

Anglican  clergymen  are  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  Church, 
when  they  hear  of  their  practising  ceremonies  not  unlike  our 
own,  or  using  Catholic  devotions  ;  we  English  Catholics  know 
better;  but  most  probably  Henrietta  Maria  thought  that 
Laud  only  wanted  the  touch  of  a  feather,  as  it  were,  to 
turn  him  over,  so  delicately  may  she  have  believed  him  to 
have  been  balanced  on  the  extreme  edge  of  High-Church 
Anglicanism. 

As  to  the  Cardinal's  hat  itself,  had  Laud  become  a  Catholic, 
he  need  not  have  been  ordained  priest  in  order  to  obtain  it. 
How  soon  he  might  have  been  made  a  cardinal  is  another 
question  altogether  ;  but  when  we  reflect  that  Manning  and 
Newman  were  made  cardinals  in  the  nineteenth  century,  it 
seems  not  improbable,  that,  had  Laud  become  a  Catholic, 
he  would  have  been  made  a  cardinal  in  the  seventeenth. 

The  offer  which  had  been  made  to  Laud  on  August  4,  was 
renewed,  he  tells  us,  on  the  i/th,  "a  serious  offer  to  be  made 
a  cardinal,"  he  calls  it  ;  but,  he  adds  that  he  answered,  "  some 
thing  dwelt  within  me,  which  would  not  suffer  that,  till  Rome 
were  other  than  it  is."  In  short,  he  could  not  make  up  his 
mind  to  become  a  Catholic.  As  Mr  Benson  says  on  this  very 
point  * : — "  The  answer  was  a  very  genuine  one.  Laud  was 
hardly  nearer  Rome  than  he  was  to  Calvinism.  He  was  far 
too  real  an  Erastian  at  heart,  far  too  earnest  a  believer  in  the 
interdependence  of  Church  and  State  to  lie  down  either  with 
the  Pope  or  Luther."  Herein  Mr  Benson  has  made  an 
admirable  criticism.  Laud,  and  he  might  have  added  Laud's 
followers,  even  down  to  the  present  day,  are,  in  principle^ 
hardly  nearer  to  Rome  than  to  Calvinism,  however  "  high  " 
their  views,,  or  gorgeous  their  vestments  ;  their  position  is  one 
of  negation  ;  they  will  not  lie  down  either  with  the  Pope  or 
Luther !  To  an  Englishman  there  is  nothing  so  dear  as  the 
spirit  of  compromise,  and  they  represent  the  theological 
incarnation  of  it. 

It  was  in  this  year  of  1633  that  the  king  revived,  as  is 
always  supposed  at  Laud's  instigation,  the  famous  Book  o 
Sports.    It  is  our  pleasure,  it  enjoined  : — "  That  the  Bishop  of 

1  Benson,  p.  109. 


L  ife  of  A  r Mis  hop  L  aud.  1 7  5 

the  Diocese  take  the  like  strait  order  with  all  Puritans  and 
Precisians  within  the  same,  either  constraining  them  to  con 
form  themselves  or  to  leave  the  country  according  to  the  laws 
of  our  kingdom  and  canons  of  our  Church  ;  and  so  strike 
equally  on  both  hands  against  the  contemners  of  our  authority 
and  adversaries  of  our  Church ;  and  as  for  our  good  people's 
recreation,  our  pleasure  is,  that  after  the  end  of  the  divine 
service  our  good  people  be  not  disturbed  letted  or  discouraged 
from  any  lawful  recreation,  such  as  dancing,  either  men  or 
women,  the  archery  for  men,  leaping,  vaulting,  or  any  other 
harmless  recreation,  nor  from  having  of  May-games,  Whitsun- 
ales,  and  Morris-dances  ;  and  the  setting  of  May-poles  and 
other  sports  therewith  used :  so  as  the  same  be  had  in 
due  and  convenient  time,  without  impediment  or  neglect  of 
divine  service,"  &c.  Bear-baitings  and  bull-baitings,  however, 
were  forbidden. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  this  publication  had  been 
provoked  by  "  An  Act  for  punishing  divers  abuses  committed 
on  the  Lord's  day  called  Sunday,"  and  also  by  another, 
entitled  an  Act  for  "  the  further  reformation  of  sundry  abuses 
committed  on  the  Lord's  day  commonly  called  Sunday." 

Laud  was  no  rigid  Sabbatarian.  Prynne  tells  us l  that 
"  this  profane  Archbishop,"  when  Bishop  of  London,  insisted 
upon  the  revocation  of  a  sentence  passed  upon  a  poor  old 
woman  for  selling  apples  in  St  Paul's  churchyard  on  a 
Sunday,  and  also  upon  the  withdrawal  of  a  proclamation 
of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  against  those  "  who  profane 
the  Sabbath  Day  by  buying  and  selling  ; "  although  it  is  but 
fair  to  say  that  he  only  took  exception  to  the  latter  on  the 
ground  that  it  intruded  upon  his  own  episcopal  jurisdiction. 

Chief  Justice  Richardson,  in  defiance  of  the  Book  of 
Sports,  issued  an  order  for  the  suppression  of  Sunday  games 
and  popular  festivals.  This  was  a  bold  step,  and  immediately 
plunged  him  into  hot  water.  He  was  summoned  before  the 
Council  Board,  where  Laud  not  only  required  him  instantly 
to  withdraw  his  order,  but  gave  him  such  a  wigging,  that,  on 
meeting  Lord  Dorset  when  leaving  the  Board,  and  being 

1  "  Canterburies  Doome,"  p.  132. 


176  Life  of  A rchbishop  L aud. 

asked  how  he  had  got  on  within  it,  he  said,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes  : — "  Very  ill,  my  Lord,  for  I  have  been  choked  with  a 
pair  of  lawn  sleeves."  l 

Laud,  indeed,  never  hesitated  to  speak  his  mind  about 
judges.  A  few  months  before  he  was  made  Archbishop,  the 
judges  in  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  had  offended  him  by 
"  tendering  two  rules,"  of  which  he  disapproved.  They  appear 
to  have  been  withdrawn  ;  but  Laud  alluded  to  them  in  the 
Court  of  High  Commission.  Standing  at  the  council  table,2 
" '  If  this  prohibition,'  quoth  he,  *  had  taken  place,  I  hope  my 
Lord's  Grace  of  Canterbury ' "  (Abbott)  "  '  would  have  excom 
municated  throughout  his  province  all  the  judges  who  should 
have  had  a  hand  therein.  For  mine  own  part,  I  will  assure 
you,  if  he  would  not,  I  would  have  done  it  in  my  diocese, 
and  myself  in  person  denounced  it  both  in  Paul's  church 
and  other  churches  of  the  same,  against  the  authors  of  so 
enormous  a  scandal  to  our  church  and  religion.'  " 

Occasionally  he  received  from  the  judges  "  as  good  as  he 
gave  "  ;  Cottington,  in  particular,  was  fond  of  teasing  him, 
so  Laud  may  have  been  glad  to  seize  an  opportunity  of 
letting  their  lordships  know  that  a  spiritual  lord  was  greater 
than  a  legal. 

^'Cyp.  Ang.,"p.  243. 

2  Rev.  Joseph  Mead  to  Sir  M.   Stuteville.     "Court  and  Times  of  Chas.  I.," 
vol.  ii.  p.  1 20. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

LAUD'S  appointment  to  the  archbishopric  greatly  increased 
his  labours,  and  at  the  same  time,  his  influence  at  court  ; 
and  the  State  Papers  contain  many  of  his  letters,  written 
"  at  the  king's  command,"  in  which  there  is  every  appearance 
of  his  having  rather  "  commanded  the  king."  There  had 
been  some  puritanical  goings-on  in  the  Inns  of  Court  ;  Laud, 
therefore,  wrote  to  the  "  two  Societies  of  the  Temple  that l 
"  foreseeing  that  almost  all  young  gentlemen  spend  part  of 
their  time  in  one  or  other  of  the  Inns  of  Court,  and  after 
wards,  when  they  return  to  live  in  their  several  countries, 
steer  themselves  according  to  such  principles  as  in  those 
places  are  preached  unto  them,  His  Majesty  therefore  has 
commanded  the  writer  to  signify  to  the  persons  addressed 
that  though  he  will  not  infringe  any  of  their  just  and  ancient 
privileges,  nor  have  the  writer  to  write  this  as  if  he  should 
take  it  on  him  by  his  ordinary  jurisdiction  to  intromit  himself 
there,  yet  he  requires  them  to  take  order  that  their  minister 
do  every  Sunday  and  holiday,  in  his  surplice  and  hood, 
morning  and  evening,  read  the  whole  entire  service  before 
the  sermon,  as  it  is  ordered  in  the  Common  Prayer  Book, 
and  that  the  preacher  also,  once  at  least  every  quarter,  read 
the  whole  divine  service,  in  his  surplice  and  hood,  as  is 
before  required  of  the  curate."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Laud 
found  considerable  difficulty  in  inducing  many  clergymen 
to  wear  surplices,  or  "  whites,"  as  they  were  termed,  at  all. 

Certain  bishops  had  got  into  a  lax  habit  of  "  laying  hands  " 
upon  men  who  had  no  title.  Laud  procured  a  royal  letter  to 
all  the  bishops,  intimating  that  "his  Majesty  would  call  into 
the  High  Commission  Court  every  bishop  who  should  presume 
to  give  orders  to  any  man  that  had  not  a  title."  2  Very  odd 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  340.  2  /£.,  p.  21. 

M  177 


1 78  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  @rt?a6;.637' 

sort  of  men,  indeed,  were  the  parsons  made  by  some  of  the 
bishops.  We  read  that  one  of  them,  the  Rev.  Robert  Revell, 
Vicar  of  Dronfield,  Co.  Derby,  had  been  "  convented  "  and 
enjoined  public  penance  for  a  grave  breach  of  morality.  Be 
sides  this,1  "  being  distempered  with  drink  he  drew  a  rapier 
and  threatened  Francis  Bullock  therewith  ; "  and  "  on  Ascen 
sion  Day,  1632,  being  at  home  drinking,  he  sent  his  son  to  bid 
the  clerk  read  the  prayers  to  the  congregation,  which  he  did." 

In  1637,  articles  were  exhibited  against  the  churchwardens 
of  Knotting,  Co.  Bedford.2  "It  is  objected  against  them 
that  "  "  in  the  chancel  of  the  said  church,  in  or  about  the 
sacred  place  where  the  Communion-Table  stands,  there  were 
fighting-cocks  brought  thither  and  cock-fightings  there  held, 
and  many  persons  assembled  to  behold  the  same,  and  to  bet 
and  lay  wagers  thereon ;  and  particularly  they  "  (the  church 
wardens)  "  and  Mr  Alney,  minister  of  Knotting,  and  some  of 
his  sons,  and  many  others,  both  youths  and  men  and  others, 
were  present  as  actors  and  spectators,  and  laughed  and  sported 
thereat,  and  most  profanely  abused  the  said  consecrated 
place." 

Here  was  plenty  of  opportunity  for  Laud's  reforming 
energy.  To  remove  the  communion-table  at  all  was  bad 
enough,  in  his  opinion ;  but  to  remove  it  to  make  room  for  a 
cock-fight  was  going,  as  it  is  the  fashion  to  say  now,  "  a  little 
too  far."  Yet,  in  the  face  of  such  facts  as  these,  existing  when 
the  Anglican  Church  had  been  under  weigh  for  many  years, 
people  talk  of  the  low  state  into  which  the  Catholic  Church 
in  England  had  sunk  in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  of 
"  reforms  "  being  necessary. 

But  I  wish  to  be  fair,  nor  to  write  of  the  lower  depths 
into  which  the  Established  Church  sank,  as  if  they  were 
its  highest,  or  even  its  average,  level. 

In  order  to  show  that  Laud  brought  about  a  better  state 
of  things,  I  will  make  a  quotation  from  the  writings  of  Father 
Cyprien,  one  of  Henrietta  Maria's  chaplains.3  Archbishop 

1  "  Cal,  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  203.  2  Ib.,  1637,  p.  508. 

3  "  Memoirs  of  the  Mission  in  England  of  the  Capuchin  Friars,"  Colburn's  Ed., 
PP-  332-3- 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  179 

Laud,  "  under  the  authority  of  the  King,  undertook  to  effect 
a  uniformity  of  the  Protestant  religion  throughout  Great 
Britain,  which  comprises  England  and  Scotland,  resolved  to 
introduce  the  ceremonies  into  the  Church,  and  ordered  the 
clergy  to  wear  the  surplice  in  the  performance  of  their  duty. 
To  back  this  prelate  several  ministers  began  to  preach  pub 
licly  quite  the  contrary  of  what  had  before  been  believed— 
such  as  the  following  truths :  that  the  Pope  is  not  Anti- 
Christ  ;  that  ceremonies  are  necessary  in  the  Church  ;  that 
auricular  confession  is  obligatory  on  every  one  who  has 
sinned  ;  that  in  the  Christian  religion  there  must  be  altars. 
Nor  content  with  proclaiming  these  truths  from  the  pulpit, 
they  composed  divers  books,  which  were  printed,  published, 
and  distributed  in  all  quarters,  I  leave  you  to  conceive  with 
what  consolation  to  the  Catholics  ;  while  the  Puritans,  that 
is  to  say,  the  Calvinists,  were  inflamed  with  wrath,  fury,  and 
rage.  Peccator  videbit  et  irascetur ;  dentibus  suis  fremet  et 
tabescet.  At  that  time  we  were  much  visited  by  Protestant 
ministers,  who  conversed  very  familiarly  with  us,  willingly 
listened  to  the  reasons  of  our  belief,  inquired  concerning  our 
ceremonies,  came  to  the  queen's  chapel  to  learn  the  practice 
of  them,  admitted  that  the  Catholic  was  the  true  Church,  but, 
withheld  by  the  consideration  of  their  benefices  and  their 
wives,  imagined  that  they  could  be  saved  in  the  Protestant 
Church,  having,  they  said,  the  same  fundamental  points  as 
the  Church  of  Rome." 

Substitute  the  word  "  vestments  "  for  "  surplice,"  and  "  Low- 
Church  people "  for  "  Puritans "  and  "  Calvinists,"  and  we 
have  almost  exactly  what  an  Italian  Capuchin,  who  had  lived 
for  some  years  in  England,  once  said  to  me,  in  my  own  house. 
The  following  remarks  of  Father  Cyprien's  might  also  have 
come  from  his  mouth  ;  indeed  he  often  said  something  very 
like  them  : — "  England  is  full  of  various  sects  opposed  to  one 
another,  and  all  hostile  to  the  Catholics."  They  "  all  boast 
of  following  the  genuine  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  which 
nevertheless,  attack,  and  are  at  irreconcilable  enmity  with 
one  another."  And  more  than  this,  the  religious  differences, 
he  says,  are  not  only  between  sect  and  sect  ;  but  "  between 


180  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvnthcent. 

family  and  family,  between  servant  and  servant,  between 
sister  and  sister,  between  brother  and  brother,  of  the  same 
sect." 

To  show  how  differently  different  people  regard  the  same 
thing,  after  giving  Father  Cyprien's  encomiums  of  Laud  and 
his  followers,  I  will  quote  another  author  who  wrote  shortly 
after  Laud's  death.1  "  Little  Hocus  Pocus "  (a  blasphemous 
parody  of  the  words  of  consecration  in  the  Mass,  Hoc  est 
Corpus],  "  Little  Hocus  Pocus,  Canterbury,  did  most  assidu 
ously  countenance  the  idolatrous  stoopings,  cringings,  and 
papist-like,  Chappell  boysterous  roarings  out  of  Creed,  and 
Prayers." 

If  Laud  had  been  content  simply  "  to  raise  the  tone,"  as 
High-Churchmen  say,  of  the  doctrines  and  ceremonies  of  his 
Church,  he  might  have  escaped  serious  trouble  ;  unfortunately 
he  insisted  on  hunting  out  and  persecuting  those  who  even 
secretly,  or  in  semi-secrecy  taught  lower  doctrines  and  prac 
tised  a  plainer  form  of  worship  than  he  approved.  He  would 
not  allow  proceedings  of  which  he  disapproved  quietly  to  die 
out ;  they  must  needs  be  stamped  out.  Even  where  two  or 
three  were  gathered  together  in  God's  name,  to  worship  in 
an  "  uncomformable  "  manner,  there  would  he,  in  the  person 
of  his  pursuivant,  be  in  the  midst  of  them. 

A  paper,  dated  Lambeth, 2  was  probably  suggested  by  its 
occupant  (Laud),  although  it  professed  to  emanate  from  the 
Commissioners  of  Ecclesiastical  Causes.  It  is  addressed  to 
"  all  Justices  of  the  Peace,  Mayors,  and  other  Officers  of  the 
Peace."  "There  remain  in  divers  parts  of  the  kingdom 
sundry  sets  of  separatists,  novalists  \sic\  and  sectaries,  as 
namely — Brownists,  Anabaptists,  Arians,  Taskites,  Familists, 
and  some  other  sorts,  who,  upon  Sundays  and  other  festival 
days,  under  pretence  of  repetition  of  sermons,  ordinarily  use 
to  meet  together  in  great  numbers  in  private  houses  and 
other  obscure  places,  and  there  keep  private  conventicles  and 
exercises  of  religion  by  law  prohibited,  to  the  corrupting  of 
sundry  his  Majesty's  good  subjects,  manifest  contempt  of  his 
Highness's  laws  and  disturbance  of  the  church.  For  re- 

1  "  None-such  Charles,"  pp.  128-9.       2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1637,  p.  538. 


St'a6ol633']  L ife  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  \  8 1 

formation  whereof  the  persons  addressed  are  to  enter  any 
house  where  they  shall  have  intelligence  that  such  conventicles 
are  held,  and  every  room  thereof  search  for  persons  assembled 
and  for  all  unlicensed  books,  and  bring  all  such  persons  and 
books  found  before  the  Ecclesiastical  Commission  as  shall  be 
thought  meet." 

It  will  be  observed  that,  under  these  instructions,  an  officer 
of  the  peace  might  enter  any  house  in  which  he  suspected 
that  a  few  friends  might  be  meeting  together  to  read  the 
Bible  and  pray,  as  used  to  be  so  common  a  few  years  ago  in 
Evangelical  families. 

Among  other  matters  to  which  Laud  devoted  great 
attention,  was  the  press.  The  king's  printers  "  had  been 
faulty  in  the  English  print  with  which  they  "  had  been  en 
trusted,  so  "his  Majesty"  had  "resolved,"  writes  Laud  to 
them, 1  "  to  punish  them  "  ;  and  the  king  writes  to  Laud, 
probably  at  his  own  suggestion,  to  say  that  a  fine  of  ^300, 
which  the  High  Commissioners  had  just  imposed  upon  them 
for  this  offence  ("  base  and  corrupt  printing  of  the  Bible ") 
should  be  spent  in  buying  good  Greek  type.  "  Power  is 
given  to  the  Archbishop  to  mitigate  the  fine  according  to  the 
printer's  diligence  in  advancing  the  work." 

"  ArcJi-Bishop  Laud's  Account  of  his  Province^  sent  to  the 
King  for  the  Year  1633,  with  the  Kings  Apos tills,  in  the 
Margin  "  throws  some  light  on  his  doings.  In  his  own  diocese 
of  Canterbury,  he  hears  "  of  many  things  amiss "  and  that 
some  of  "my  Peculiars  in  London  are  extreamly  out  of  order." 
Before  giving  up  his  Bishopric  of  London,  he  had  "proceeded 
against  Nathaniel  Ward,  Parson  of  Grondon  in  Essex,  to 
Excommunication  and  Deprivation,  for  refusing  to  subscribe 
to  the  Articles." 

After  describing  the  condition  of  three  other  dioceses,  he 
comes  to  "  Repon  "  where  the  Bishop  of  Coventry  and 
Lichfield  had  suppressed  a  "  Seditious  Lecture,"  "  and  divers 
Monthly- Lectures,  with  a  Fast  and  a  Moderator,"  "as  also 
a  Running  Lecture,  so  called  because  the  Lecturer  went  from 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1637,  p.  423. 

8  "  Hist,  of  the  Troubles  and  Tryal  of  W.  L.,"  p.  525. 


1 82  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Srtca6ol633' 

Village  to  Village."  "  They  say  this  Lecture  was  ordained 
to  Illuminate  the  Dark  Corners  of  that  Diocese."  The  king 
has  written  in  the  margin  of  this  "  C.  R.  If  there  be  Dark 
Corners  in  this  Dioces ;  it  were  fitt  a  true  Light  should 
Illuminate  it ;  and  not  this  that  is  falce  and  uncertaine." 

The  happiest  bishop  noticed  in  this  report  is  St  Asaph, 
who  "returns,  that  all  is  exceedingly  well  in  his  Diocess, 
save  only  that  the  Number  and  Boldness  of  some  Romish 
Recusants  increaseth  much  in  many  Places,  and  is  incouraged 
by  the  Superstitions  and  frequent  Concourse  of  some  of  that 
Party  to  Holy- Well,  otherwise  called  St  Winifred's  Well." 
The  poor  Bishop  of  St  Asaph  of  to-day  finds  that  the 
Number  and  Boldness  of  the  Romish  Recusants  "  increaseth 
much"  more;  for  he  has  two  large  Jesuit  Colleges,  one 
English,  and  one  French,  one  Capuchin  Monastery,  several 
convents  of  nuns  of  various  orders,  at  least  three  Jesuit 
Missions,  and  very  many  others  under  secular  priests,  within 
the  limits  of  his  diocese. 

Now  that  I  am  noticing  Laud's  annual  report  for  1633  to 
the  king,  I  may  as  well  include  one  or  two  others. 

In  one,  he  reports  that  the  Bishop  of  St  Asaph  "hath 
little  to  return";  and  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  make  the  present 
Bishop  of  St  Asaph's  mouth  water  when  I  add  that  the 
occupant  of  his  See,  in  Laud's  days,  reports  that  throughout 
his  diocese  "there  is  nothing  but  common  Peace,  and 
universal  Conformity." x  But  this  was  before  the  days  of  the 
Wesleys  and  the  Methodists ;  the  Bishop,  however,  "  heartily 
wishes,  that "  his  people  "  might  be  as  well  acquitted  of 
Superstition  and  Prophaneness."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Welsh  people  clung  on  to  their  "  Popery  "  as  best  they  could, 
without  priests  to  guide  them,  until  the  followers  of  the 
Wesleys  succeeded  in  inducing  them  to  join  their  sects  and 
branch  sects. 

Long  after  priests  had  disappeared  in  North  Wales,  the 
people,  especially  in  retired  places,  continued  to  practise  the 
religion  that  had  been  handed  down  to  them  from  their  fore 
fathers,  each  generation  being  less  and  less  instructed,  and 

1  "  Archp.  Laud's  History,"  p.  552. 


33']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 83 

their  faith  becoming  vaguer  and  vaguer,  until  in  many  places 
a  hazy  Christianity,  with  a  few  devotions  such  as  hymn-sing 
ing,  the  saying  of  a  few  familiar  prayers,  the  invocation  of 
certain  saints,  prayers  in  burial  grounds  for  the  dead,  and 
visits  to  holy  wells,  were  all  that  was  left  of  it  Yet  these 
people  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  State  Church, 
and  it  was  among  these  sheep  without  a  shepherd  that 
the  Wesleys  evangelized  with  such  success. 

One  entry  in  the  Annual  Accounts,  presented  by  Laud  to 
King  Charles,  relates  to  "that  wild  Young  Gentleman  Mr 
South!'  who  had  committed  an  atrocious  crime  and  been 
summoned  in  consequence  before  the  High  Commission  by 
Laud.  Here  Laud  makes  a  bad  pun,  saying,  "  I  hope  your 
Majesty  will  give  me  leave  to  make  South  blow  West  for 
St  Paul's  ;  "  and  the  king  makes  one  still  worse,  by  scribbling 
in  the  margin  "  C.  R.  The  South- West  Wind  is  commonly 
the  best,  therefore  I  will  not  hinder  the  blowing  that  way." 
One  trembles  at  the  thought  of  what  Laud  must  have  been 
in  society,  if  he  tried  to  be  funny  in  the  style  which  he 
sometimes  adopted  with  his  pen. 

In  Norwich,  writes  Laud,  "  one  Mr  Bridge  rather  than  he 
would  Conform,  hath  left  his  Lecture  and  two  Cures,  and  is 
gone  into  Holland."  Beside  this,  Charles  puts  a  marginal 
note  : — "  C.  R.  Let  him  goe  :  Wee  are  well  ridd  of  him." 

In  one  account  (1634),  Laud  writes: — "I  conceive  under 
favour,  that  the  Dutch  Churches  in  Canterbury  and  Sandwich 
are  great  Nurseries  of  Inconformity  in  those  parts."  Where 
upon  the  king  scribbles  : — "  Put  mee  in  mynd  of  this  at 
some  convenient  tyme,  when  I  am  at  Council,  and  I  shall 
redress  it."  In  fact,  Charles  seems  to  have  been  ever  ready 
to  carry  out  Laud's  wishes.  On  another  matter  Laud  asks 
whether  his  Majesty  approves,  and  there  is  a  marginal 
note : — "  C.  R.  I  doe,  and  will  express  my  Pleasure  (if  need 
be)  what  way  you  will." 

The  language  used  in  the  pulpit  by  some  of  the  puri 
tanical  clergy  shocked  Laud,  as  well  it  might.  He  reports 
a  curate  to  the  king  for  having  "  used  this  base  and  Un 
christian  passage  in  the  Pulpit,  That  God  so  loved  the 


1 84  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  Lgrt?a60l633' 

world,  that  for  it  he  sent  his  Son  to  live  like  a  Slave,  and  dye 
like  a  Beast."  King  Charles  caps  this — as  I  grieve  to  say 
religious  people  usually  do  cap  profane  stories,  whenever 
they  are  able — by  writing  in  the  margin  : — "  C.  R.  This  is 
not  much  unlike  that  which  was  not  longe  since  uttered 
elsewhere,"  and  thereupon  quotes  something  even  more  blas 
phemous  and  offensive. 

Once  more  we  have  the  Bishop  of  St  Asaph  and  his  holy 
well.  He  has  reported  that  he  has  "  no  Complaint,  but  the 
usual."  Lady  Falkland  "  and  her  Company  came  as  Pilgrims  " 
to  St  Winifrid's  Well,  "  who  were  the  more  observed,  because 
they  travelled  on  Foot,  and  Dissembled  neither  their  quality, 
nor  their  Errand."  Laud  had  already  "  complained  of  this  in 
open  Council"  to  the  king,  and  he  now  begged  that  his 
Majesty  would  "  be  graciously  pleased  that  the  Order  then 
resolved  on  for  her  confinement  may  be  put  in  execution." 
Charles's  note  to  this  is  laconic  and  to  the  point : — "  Itt  is 
done."  It  is  heedless  to  say  that  this  was  a  case  of  pure  and 
simple  persecution  of  Catholics  on  Laud's  part  and  also  on 
Charles's.  There  was  no  excuse  whatever  for  interference 
with  this  pious  and  inoffensive  lady. 

I  must  not  forget  to  mention  that  on  Laud's  first  going  to 
Lambeth,  the  day  before  his  "  Translation,"  his  "  Coach, 
Horses,  and  Men  sunk  to  the  bottom  of  the  Thames  in  the 
Ferry- Boat,  which  was  overladen,  but  I  Praise  God  for  it,  I 
lost  neither  Man  nor  Horse." 

And  now  Lady  Eleanor  Davies  reappears  upon  the  scene, 
rousing  the  ire  of  Laud  by. prophesying  "  against  me,  that  I 
should  very  few  Days  out-live  the  Fifth  of  November."  It 
was  all  very  well  to  prophesy  evil  things  of  kings  and  queens, 
but  very  dangerous  to  do  so  of  archbishops ;  at  any  rate  of 
an  archbishop  of  the  type  of  Laud. 

Some  lines1  among  the  State  Papers  reflecting  upon  Laud, 
are  thought  by  Mr  Bruce2  to  be  perhaps  "  the  rhapsodical 
compositions  of  Lady  Eleanor  Davies,  who  was  called  in 
question  in  November  1633,  for  prophesying  that  the  arch- 

1  S.  P.  O.  Dom.,  vol.  ccxlviii.  No.  93. 

2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  266. 


irtca6o'633']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  185 

bishop  should  outlive  the  5th  November  but  a  very  few  days. 
The  lines  are  entitled,  '  Handwriting,  October  1633.  Exaudi 
Deus.  Psalm  55,'  and  in  the  margin  there  is  a  deduction  of  the 
same  number  55  out  of  the  name  LAVD."  He  adds  that 
their  exact  meaning  "  is  difficult  to  discover."  The  punctua 
tion  is  peculiar. 

"  God  of  the  Earth.     Earth  is  England, 
out  of  Earth,  Comes  a  Beaste, 
breed  of  the  first,  by  the  Sea  Sand 
of  Evils  not  the  Least, 
two  Horns  like  to  a  Lambe,  not  wilde 
like  Yorke,  £  Lambeth  Looke, 
oath  giueth  all,  as  Dragon  milde 
righte  Hand,  bidds  Laye  on  Booke. 

"  Six  Hundred-Sixtie-six,  accounte 
the  Beast,  His  number  tolde. 
to  fifftie  five  years,  doo  amounte. 
So  many  moneths,  is  olde 
Marke,  Moneths,  read  of  the  Man  of  sinn 
Whose  Hovvers  Last  doo  runn 
Six  Hundred-Sixtie,  six  beginn. 
to  counte  His  Moneth,  to  come. 

even  so  come.     Lord  Jesus  Amen." 

Lady  Eleanor  Davies  seems  to  have  sent  a  sort  of  pro 
phetical  memorial  to  the  king.1  She  wrote  under  her  maiden 
name  of  "  Lady  Eleanor  Tuchet  "  (her  father  was  the  Earl 
of  Castlehaven),  and  she  announced  that  "  Early  in  the  morn 
ing  the  B.  [Bishop  ?]  beast  ascendejd  out  of  the  bottomless 
pit,  with  seven  heads  (seven  years  having  made  war),  hath 
overcome  and  killed  them.  Books  sealed  by  the  prophets,  by 
the  Bishop  of  Lambeth  are  condemned  to  be  burned  at  Paul's 
Cross,  where  our  Lord  pictured  was  also  crucified.  This  is 
the  third  day  their  dead  bodies  throwed  in  loose  sheets  of 
paper,  lie  in  the  streats  of  the  great  city,  more  cruel  hard 
hearted  than  other  tongues  and  nations,  who  will  not  suffer 
them  to  be  buried." 

Instead   of  being  treated  like  a  lunatic,  this  poor  woman 

1  S.  P.  O.  Dom.,  vol.  cclv.  No.  20. 


1 86  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

was  fined  ^3000,  and  kept  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Gate 
house.  It  was  said  that  she  was  far  more  overwhelmed  by 
a  remark  of  the  Dean  of  Arches,  at  her  trial,  than  by  her 
sentence.  It  will  be  remembered  that  she  founded  her  claims 
to  be  a  prophetess  chiefly  upon  a  discovery  that  the  letters  of 
her  name,  "Eleianor  Audeley" — her  father  had  been  Baron 
Audley  before  being  created  Earl  of  Castlehaven — could  be 
twisted  into  the  anagram,  "  Reveale  O  Daniel."  The  d.ean 
was  seen  writing  on  a  piece  of  paper,  when  he  suddenly  looked 
up  to  the  prisoner  and  said  : — "  Madam,  I  see  you  build  much 
on  anagrams,  and  I  have  found  one  which  I  think  will  fit  you 
— Never  so  Mad  a  Ladie."  There  was  a  roar  of  laughter  in 
the  court,  and  Heylin  says  that  she  afterwards  either  "grew 
wiser,  or  less  regarded." 

More  sane  antagonists,  however,  than  Lady  Eleanor  attacked 
Laud,  and  he  was  obliged  to  "  aduertise  his  Majesty  of  the 
Falsehood  and  Practise  that  was  against  him."  But  one  other 
half-mad  ill-wisher  "came  into  the  Court  at  St  James's,  with 
a  great  Sword  by  his  Side,  swearing,  the  King  should  do  him 
Justice  against  me,  or  he  wou'd  take  another  course  with 
me." 

With  his  unpopularity  among  certain  people,  Laud's  favour 
with  the  king  seemed  to  increase.  Charles's  third  son,  or 
second  living  son,  born  on  the  I3th  or  I4th  (see  Evelyn)  of 
October  was  christened  James  at  St  James's  on  the  24th  of 
November,  by  the  archbishop,  and  created  Duke  of  York  by 
the  king. 

Earlier  in  this  chapter  I  have  quoted  from  a  letter  written 
to  Laud  from  Ireland.  The  condition  of  ecclesiastical 
matters  in  that  country  greatly  distressed  him,  as  well  it 
might ;  for  the  Anglican  clergy  were,  and  had  for  many  years 
been,  anything  but  a  credit  to  their  religion.  Even  at  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spenser  gave  the  following 
opinion  of  them. x  "  Whatever  disorders  you  see  in  the 
Church  of  England,  you  may  find  these,  and  many  more 
[in  Ireland],  namely,  gross  simony,  greedy  covetousness, 
fleshly  incontinency,  careless  sloth,  and  generally  all  dis- 

1  I  quote  from  Baine's  "  Life  of  Laud,"  p.  150. 


£;ca6o'.633']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  187 

ordered  life  in  the  common  clergymen.  And  besides  all 
these,  they  have  their  particular  enormities  ;  for  all  the  Irish 
Priests  which  now  enjoy  the  church  livings,  they  are  in  a 
manner  mere  laymen,  saving  that  they  have  taken  holy 
orders  ;  but  otherwise  they  go  and  live  like  laymen,  follow 
all  kinds  of  husbandry  and  other  worldly  affairs,  as  other  Irish 
men  do.  They  neither  read  the  Scriptures,  nor  preach  to  the 
people,  nor  administer  the  communion  ;  but  baptism  they 
do,  for  they  christen,  yet  after  the  Popish  fashion." 

Whether  any  improvement  had  been  made  in  this  con 
dition  of  things  thirty  or  forty  years  later,  I  do  not  know  ; 
but  it  seems  pretty  clear  that  the  Protestant  Church  in 
Ireland  was  in  a  state  very  repugnant  to  the  mind  of  Laud, 
and  that  he  determined  to  remedy  it.  Fortunately,  he  had 
an  instrument,  on  the  spot,  well  qualified  for  that  purpose. 
Lord  Wentworth,  who  had  been  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  condemning  the 
exactions  of  Charles,  in  that  king's  third  Parliament,  had  since 
then  been  won  over  to  the  royalist  cause,  and  in  1632  he  was 
appointed  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland.  He  had  already 
become  a  warm  friend  of  Laud's  and  consulted  him  as  to 
the  management  of  Church  matters  in  the  land  which  he  was 
now  to  govern.  It  would  take  me  too  far  afield  to  give  even 
a  rough  sketch  of  his  arbitrary  rule  over  the  Irish  Parliament 
and  people  ;  moreover  it  is  too  well  known  to  require  descrip 
tion  here  ;  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  in  the  year  1634  he  wrote 
to  Laud  saying  that  he  had  succeeded  in  making  the  king 
as  absolute  a  monarch  in  Ireland,  as  any  in  the  universe.1 
Laud  thought  it  of  the  highest  importance  to  have  the  Irish, 
as  well  as  the  Scottish  Established  Church,  under  exactly  the 
same  discipline  as  the  English,  greatly  to  the  vexation  of  the 
Irish  Protestant  prelates,  who  considered  their  Church  distinct 
and  independent,  and  were  perfectly  satisfied  with  their  own 
articles  of  religion,  which  were  much  too  Calvinistic  to  be 
pleasing  to  Laud.  Wentworth,  guided  by  Laud,  ordered 
Archbishop  Usher  to  draw  up  a  canon  authorizing  the 
English  articles  of  religion,  and  when  the  canon  did  not 

1  Wentworth  to  Laud,  i6th  Dec.  1634. 


T  88  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud. 

satisfy  him,  he  drew  up  another,  himself,  in  its  place,  and 
sent  it  to  the  House,  with  instructions  that  no  debate  should 
be  allowed  upon  it,  and  that  if  any  members  voted  against 
the  measure,  their  names  should  be  reported  to  him. 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  Wentworth  l  Laud  writes  : — "  I  have 
known  the  Bishop  of  Waterford  long,  and  when  he  lived  in 
College ;  he  would  have  done  any  Thing,  or  sold  any  Man  for 
six  Pence  Profit."  He  "  was  ever  full  of  Jests,  and  would  at 
any  Time  lose  a  Friend  rather  than  spare  it." 

In  another  letter  to  Wentworth,2  in  1634,  he  makes  one 
remark  which  is  so  excellent  and  so  much  to  the  purpose 
that  I  cannot  forbear  to  quote  it : — "  That  the  Divine  Service 
may  be  read  throughout  the  Churches,  be  the  Company  that 
vouchsafe  to  come  never  so  few.  Let  God  have  his  whole 
Service  with  Reverence,  and  He  will  quickly  send  in  more 
to  help  to  perform  it." 

It  was  not  only  through  Wentworth  that  Laud  interfered 
with  Church  matters  in  Ireland.  Bramhall,  Wentworth's 
chaplain,  reported  to  him  that  the  Earl  of  Cork  had  erected  a 
monument  over  his  family  vault,  in  St  Patrick's  Cathedral, 
on  the  very  place  where  the  high  altar  had  formerly  stood,  "  as 
if  it  were  contrived  to  gain  the  worship  and  reverence  which 
the  chapter  and  whole  church  are  bound  by  special  statute 
to  give  towards  the  East."  Lord  Cork  received  an  intima 
tion  from  Laud  that  he  must  forthwith  pull  it  down,  where 
upon  he  wrote  to  Laud  to  say  that  his  wife's  family  had  for  a 
long  time  had  the  privilege  of  burying  beneath  the  site  of  the 
high  altar,  and  that  "  in  accomplishment  of  her  dying  desire 
who  was  the  mother  of  fifteene  Children,"  he  had  "  pro 
pounded  unto  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  the  Deane 
and  Chapter  of  St  Patrick's,"  to  purchase  the  place  for  a 
<l  Sellar,"  or  family  vault,  and  erect  a  tomb  over  it ;  that, 
until  then,  the  floods  and  "  raynes "  had  come  into  the 
chancel  and  "  anoyed  withall,"  especially  as  the  "  flower " 
(floor)  of  it  was  only  of  earth ;  but  that  he  had  paved  it  and 
drained  it,  so  that  the  communion-table  now  stood  "  very  dry 
and  gracefully " ;  and  he  declared  that  the  building  of  this 

1  "  Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  i.  p.  212,  anno  1633.  2  lb.,  p.  254. 


Srtca6ol633']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  189 

monument,  which  was  thirty  feet  high,  and  the  paving  and 
draining,  had  cost  him  at  least  a  thousand  pounds. 

In  support  of  Lord  Cork,  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  wrote 
to  Laud  that  the  communion-table,  which  used  to  stand  on  a 
"  floore  of  earth,"  and  was  often  "  drowned  with  water  "  "  in 
former  times,"  was  now,  thanks  to  the  earl,  on  a  pavement 
of  "  faire  hevven  stones,"  and  was  placed  with  more  decency  ; 
and  that  "  his  Lordship  has  in  hand  to  set  up  a  faire  Skrine 
of  timber,  somewhat  distant  from  the  monument,"  "  in  which 
skrine  the  Decalogue  shal  be  fairely  painted  ;  and  the  Com 
munion  Table  shall  bee  placed  close  to  the  same,  more  decently 
then  it  has  ever  been,"  and  that  the  earl  had  exhibited  ex 
emplary  "  meritts "  and  very  great  zeal  in  advancing  the 
interests  of  true  religion.  (Observe,  in  passing,  that  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Dublin  hoped  to  please  Laud  by  this  promise  that 
the  Decalogue  "  shal  be  fairely  painted "  in  "  the  skrine." 
There  is  plenty  of  evidence  that,  in  those  times,  to  have  the 
ten  commandments  painted  above  the  communion-table  was 
considered  the  summit  of  High-Church  orthodoxy.) 

To  this  letter,  says  Prynne,1  "this  Arch-Prelate  returned 
this  waspish  insolent  answer  "  : — "  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  from 
your  Lordship  of  his  [Lord  Cork's]  zeale  for  the  advance 
ment  of  true  religion  :  but  I  may  not  conceale  from  your 
Lordship  that  I  have  likewise  heard  from  others  that  hee 
hath  gotten  into  his  hands  no  small  proportion  of  the 
Church's  means.  And  if  that  be  so,  any  man  may  see  his 
end  in  advancing  true  Religion.  But  such  a  Zeale  that  pore 
Church  hath  little  need  of."  As  for  "  the  Tombe  which 
occasioned  all  the  rest,"  he  said  he  could  not  judge  without 
seeing  it,  and  that  the  matter  must  be  left  to  the  decision  of 
authorities  who  should  be  authorised  to  examine  into  the 
matter  on  the  spot. 

At  first  sight,  the  interference  of  an  English  archbishop  in 
Irish  ecclesiastical  affairs  may  appear  anomalous  ;  but  it 
should  be  remembered  that  Laud  had  been  made  Chancellor 
of  Dublin  ;  so  that  he  was  acting  well  within  his  rights.  It 
almost  appeared  as  if  excuses  were  made  to  give  him  power 

1  "  Canterburies  Doome,"  p.  85. 


190  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [lt?6o.633' 

wherever  possible,  and  what  he  writes  in  jest  to  Wentworth, 
might  have  been  said  more  seriously l : — "  I  was  fain  to  write 
nine  Letters  yesterday  into  Scotland.  I  think  you  have  a 
Plot  to  see,  whether  I  will  be  a  Universalis  Episcopus,  that 
you  and  your  Brethren  may  take  occasion  to  call  me  Anti- 
Christ." 

1  "Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  i.  p.  271. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

I  HAVE  been  demonstrating  that  Laud,  far  from  confining 
his  proceedings  to  his  own  country,  much  less  his  own  arch 
diocese,  endeavoured  to  hold  the  reins  of  management,  both 
of  Scotland  and  Ireland  ;  it  will  now  be  my  business  to 
show  that  he  wished  to  extend  his  influence  very  widely 
beyond  even  those  limits. 

His  scheme  was  to  unite  all  Protestant  bodies  in  one  large 
Church,  each  sect  to  be  more  or  less  under  the  discipline  of 
its  own  laws  and  canons,  but  federated  to  all  the  rest  in 
certain  points  common  to  all ;  in  short,  he  seems  to  have 
wished  to  oppose  a  more  or  less  compact  Protestant  Church 
to  the  Catholic  Church. 

This  scheme  was  put  into  shape  by  Sir  Thomas  Roe, 
formerly  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  and  a  man  named 
John  Durie,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  and  an 
ardent  re-unionist.  Their  project  is  described  by  Mr  Bruce1 
as  "  a  union  of  recognition  and  brotherhood  among  all 
Protestant  Churches."  Modern  High-Church  admirers  of 
Laud  may  do  well  to  make  a  note  of  this  !  "  Durie,  with 
the  archbishop's  concurrence,  had  drawn  two  letters,  one 
proposed  to  be  addressed  by  the  Archbishop  to  the  Lutheran, 
and  the  other  to  the  Calvinistic  Churches  in  Germany,  as 
testifying  Laud's  desire  to  promote  the  scheme  of  union."  2 

That  is  to  say,  Archbishop  Laud  desired  to  promote  a 
union  between  the  Established  Church  of  England  and  two 
German  Churches,  which  repudiated  orders  and  apostolical 
succession. 

It  was  arranged  that  Durie  should  attend  the  Diet  of 
Frankfort  with  a  view  to  furthering  this  great  Protestant 
amalgamation.  Before  he  started,  Laud  gave  him  letters  to 

1  Preface  to  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  xxxv.  '-  Ib.y  p.  xxxvi. 

191 


192  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvmhcent. 

carry  with  him,  which  Durie  declares  he  found  "  emphatical 
enough,  and  full  of  strong  expressions  of  love  towards  the 
work  "  J — the  work  of  a  great  Protestant  union  between  the 
Anglican,  Lutheran,  and  Calvinistic  Churches  ! 

It  is  quite  clear  that  it  was  essentially  a  Protestant  Union, 
and  not  a  Union  of  all  nominal  Christians,  whether  Catholic 
or  Protestant,  that  was  aimed  at  ;  nay  more,  that  it  was  a 
Union  of  Protestants  versus  Catholics  ;  for,  in  his  recapitula 
tion,  at  his  trial  before  the  Lords,  Laud  says 2 : — "  Lastly,  there 
have  been  above  Three-score  Letters  and  other  Papers,  brought 
out  of  my  Study  into  this  Honourable  House ;  they  are  all 
about  composing  the  Differences  between  the  Lutherans  and 
the  Calvinists  in  Germany.  Why  they  should  be  brought 
hither,  but  in  hope  to  charge  them  upon  me,  I  know  not ;  and 
then  the  Argument  will  be  thus  :  I  laboured  to  reconcile 
the  Protestants  in  Germany,  that  they  might  unanimously 
set  themselves  against  the  Papists ;  therefore  I  laboured  to 
bring  Popery  into  England''  It  is  true  that  nothing  is  said 
here  of  the  union  of  the  Anglicans  with  the  rival  Protestant 
sects  abroad  ;  but  it  shows  the  spirit  in  which  his  "recon 
ciliations  "  were  proposed. 

When  it  came  to  a  question  of  paying  Durie's  expenses, 
Laud  said  : — "  If  I  had  been  in  this  see  twenty  or  twenty- 
two  years,  as  my  predecessor  was,  I  could,  perhaps,  be  able 
to  allow  you  seven  or  eight  score  pounds  a  year,  but  now  I 
am  not  able  :  therefore,  if  this  which  I  am  ready  to  do,  can 
serve  your  turn,  you  may  make  use  of  it."3  He  then  pro 
ceeded  to  make  Durie  the  offer  of  a  living  in  Devonshire, 
which  was  to  provide  him  an  income  while  he  laboured 
to  promote  the  great  "  Evangelical  Alliance."  When 
Durie  objected  that  he  could  not,  at  the  same  time,  be 
at  his  "  cure  and  abroad,"  Laud  replied,  "  You  may 
have  a  curate."  Durie  found,  however,  that,  after  paying 
a  curate  out  of  the  emoluments  of  the  living  offered,  the 
balance  would  be  very  small. 

King   Charles   does  not  appear  to  have  entered  into  the 

1  Preface  to  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  xxvii.          -  "  Hist.,"  p.  419. 
3  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  xxxviii. 


St?a6ol6331  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  193 

scheme  with  quite  so  much  cordiality  as  Laud  ;  for  the  latter 
writes  to  Sir  Thomas  Roe1  that  "His  Majesty  has  been 
acquainted  with  the  business  Roe  writ  of,  and  has  given  a 
very  pious  and  a  prudent  answer,  though  it  reach  not  home 
in  all  circumstances  to  that  which  is  desired." 

Nevertheless,  in  a  measure  he  encouraged  it ;  for  we  find 
Roe  writing2  some  months  later  to  Windebank  that : — "  His 
Majesty  has  declared  his  liking,  [for  the  project]  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury  has  taken  the  direction,  the  foreign 
churches  seek  to  him,  and  will  obey  him."  He  declares  that 
"  the  work  is  far  improved  above  hope,  above  the  means, 
above  the  exquisite  skill  and  labour  of  princes  and  learned 
men  in  the  former  age,  and  Roe  must  conclude  that  it  is 
Gods  only  blessing  \sic\  and  that  he  will  perfect  it,  if  they  be 
worthy  of  the  blessing."  Further  on  he  says  that  "the  peace 
of  the  reformed  church  can  never  be  secure  while  it  is  divided 
and  the  enemy  concur  in  one  end  and  head.  Unity  will 
prevail." 

Later,  again,  there  seemed  to  be  difficulties  with  the  king. 
Durie  wrote  to  Roe,3  that  he  had  been  to  see  Archbishop 
Laud,  who  had  told  him  that  he  might  "  come  when  he  would 
and  should  always  be  welcome."  He  added,  however,  "  that, 
as  for  the  king,  he  found  not  that  he  was  willing  to  declare 
himself  as  yet,  for  causes  which  he  kept  to  himself,  and  that 
Durie  had  done  well  in  writing  hitherto  nothing  unto  them, 
lest  in  writing  before  things  be  resolved  upon,  he  should  be 
forced  to  retract ;  that  between  this  and  spring  things  would 
frame  themselves  otherwise  in  those  parts,  and  according  to 
their  state  a  course  may  be  taken." 

About  the  same  time  Roe  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of  Durham,4 
""  how  Durie,  a  Scotch  minister,  was  employed  into  Germany  for 
the  reconciliation  of  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  Churches." 
"  He  has  come  home  with  many  letters  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  signifying  the  desire  of  the  Germans,  and 
imploring  his  Majesty's  assistance  as  mediator.  Now  it 
depends  on  what  we  will  do  here.  Fears  we  shall  rather  quit 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1833-4,  p.  197.  ~  //;.,  p.  403. 

3  Ib.,  p.  406.  4/£.,  p.  430. 

N 


1 94  Life  of  Archbishop  Laitd. 

it  with  shame  than  prosecute  it  with  zeal.  The  Archbishop 
has  promised  to  assist,  but  he  is  so  cautelous,  and  refers  to 
his  Majesty,  that  it  is  a  doubt  it  will  perish  by  being  in  hands 
that  cannot  intend  it  [i.e.,  attend  to  it]."  Roe  prays  the 
Almighty  "to  show  his  Majesty  in  a  true  light  what  is  fit 
for  him,  his  church,  and  people."  The  project  "has  already 
cost  ^400,  and  they  must  seek  help  of  good  men."  Sad 
to  say,  good  men  helped  but  little,  and,  to  use  a  modern 
phrase,  the  grand  scheme  for  a  Protestant  Union  eventually 
"  languished  for  want  of  funds." 

A  few  months  later  than  the  date  of  the  letter  quoted 
above,  Roe  wrote  :  to  Baron  Oxenstiern  urging  him  "  to  press 
forward  the  project  for  union  of  the  churches,  with  respect  to 
which  the  king  waits  to  engage  himself  until  he  is  informed 
of  the  concurrence  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  Oxenstiern."  And 
when,  in  1634,  the  Diet  was  sitting  at  Frankfort,  he  wrote2 
from  Bulwick  to  Archbishop  Laud,  begging  him  "  to  take 
care  that  some  instructions  be  given  to  the  king's  representa 
tive  there  to  avow  Durie's  person  or  the  negotiation. 
Durie  is  confident  that  God  will  give  His  church  peace, 
that  this  is  the  time  and  that  the  Archbishop  may  have 
the  honour." 

Then  came  a  letter3  from  Laud  himself  to  Roe,  mentioning 
the  project  as  "so  good  a  cause.''  "That  it  succeeded  not 
was  no  fault  of  the  Archbishop."  "  Concerning  Durie's 
return  to  the  Diet,  the  Archbishop's  letters  have  lain  by  him 
long  since,  one  to  such  Lutherans,  and  the  other  to  such 
Calvinists,  as  wrote  to  him.  In  those  letters  the  Archbishop 
has  expressed  himself  so  far  as  it  can  be  anyways  fit,  and 
Durie  has  free  leave  to  go  to  the  Diet  to  be  held  in  May. 
His  success  there  the  Archbishop  wishes  may  be  happy." 
This  proves  Laud's  personal  sympathy  with  the  undertaking. 
"  The  writer  has  moved  his  Majesty  several  times,  but  though 
the  king  highly  approves  the  work,  yet  will  he  not  publicly 
avow  either  Durie  or  his  negotiation  ;  neither  doth  he  hold 
it  fit  so  to  do,  where  the  Princes  upon  the  place  have  not 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1833-4,  p,  320.  -  lb.t  p.  544. 

3//;.,  p.  562. 


33']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  195 

publicly  declared  themselves."     "  He  has  spoken  his  mind  to 
his  Majesty  in  private,  and  that  is  all  he  can  do.'' 

Laud  still  continued  to  further  the  cause  by  sending1,  with 
another,  two  letters  l  to  Durie,  "  one  to  be  showed  to  the 
Reformed  and  the  other  to  the  Lutheran  churches."  In  a 
letter  to  Roe,2  Durie  says  that  Laud  had  written  him  letters 
which  he  found  "  emphatical  enough,  and  full  of  strong  ex 
pressions  of  love  to  the  work,  and  some  commendation  of 
Durie's  labours." 

There  can  be  no  question  of  Laud's  desire  for  the  promotion 
of  the  scheme,  nor  is  it  unlikely  that  he  may  have  conceived 
the  idea  of  one  day  becoming,  himself,  a  sort  of  Protestant 
Pope  over  all  the  Reformed  Churches  of  the  world  ! 

Even  later  than  any  of  the  letters  already  quoted  on  the 
subject,  Laud  wrote  to  Durie,3  acknowledging  the  receipt  of 
"  letters  directed  to  him  from  brothers  in  Christ  in  the  Pala 
tinate,  Biponto,  Hesse,  and  elsewhere  in  Germany  " — surely 
these  must  have  been  the  forefathers  of  the  "dear,  dissenting 
brothers  "  talked  of  by  modern  Evangelicals — "  from  which 
he  understands  how  diligently  Durie  has  prosecuted  the  busi 
ness  of  restoring  the  peace  of  the  Church.  Urges  him  to 
proceed,  assures  him  of  his  prayers,  and  his  aid  at  the  proper 
time.  Meanwhile  he  is  pressed  by  many  burdens,  but  wishes 
Durie  to  salute  for  him  all  who  are  solicitous  for  the  peace  of 
the  Church,  and  especially  the  distinguished  theologians  who 
have  written  to  him,  but  whose  letters  he  is  unable  to  answer 
on  account  of  the  pressure  of  other  business." 

It  is  interesting,  at  the  present  time,  to  consider  what 
Laud's  ideal  great  Protestant  Church  would  be  like  now,  if 
his  wishes  had  been  realised.  Anglicans  when  on  the  Con 
tinent  could  not  in  that  case  be  going,  as  they  frequently  do 
now,  to  high  masses,  vespers,  benedictions,  and  other  func 
tions  in  Catholic  cathedrals  and  churches,  but  would  have  to 
content  themselves  with  those  Lutheran,  French  Protestant, 
Vaudois,  and  such  like  Reformed  conventicles  with  which 
they  would  be  legally  allied. 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1833-4,  p.  566.  2  Ib.t  p.  309. 

»  //>.,  1634-5,  P.  148. 


196  Life  of  Archbishop  Lazid. 

So  seldom,  at  present,  do  high  Anglicans  attend  services  in 
Lutheran  churches,  that  it  may  be  well  to  call  their  attention 
to  Laud's  consistency  in  inclining  towards  that  body.  In  its 
churches,  the  altars  stood  "  as  of  old  "  much  more  than  in 
the  highest  of  the  High  Anglican  ;  for  they  were  not  only 
placed  "  altarwise,"  but  at  least  so  far  as  the  substructure 
was  concerned,  consisted,  I  believe,  of  the  actual  altars 
themselves,  and  not,  as  in  England,  of  mere  communion 
tables  placed  where  the  altars  formerly  stood ;  moreover, 
the  very  side-altars,  in  many  cases,  were  left  standing.  A 
fine  example  of  this  may  be  seen  at  the  present  day  in 
the  Lutheran  Church  at  Nuremberg.  It  is  true  that  the 
Lutheran  clergy  did  not  "  wear  whites  "  ;  but,  if  they  wore 
blacks  instead,  they  left  the  crucifixes  on  the  altars  and 
lighted  the  candles.  As  to  the  absence  of  bishops,  it  has 
already  been  shown  that,  in  Laud's  opinion,  bishops  were 
actually  present  in  the  Lutheran  Church,  under  another 
name. 

Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  the  Universal  Protestant 
Church,  which  Laud  so  much  desired,  it  may  be  well  to  give 
a  quotation  from  Heylin  which  bears  upon  it.1  In  reply  to 
some  assertions  that  Laud  inclined  rather  towards  Catholicism 
than  Protestantism,  he  says  : — "  Had  he  directed  his  en 
deavours  to  suppress  the  Protestants,  he  would  not  have 
given  so  much  countenance  to  Dury,  a  Scot,  who  entertained 
him  with  some  hopes  of  working  an  Accord  betwixt  the 
Lutheran  and  Calvinian  Churches.  In  which  service,  as  he 
wasted  a  great  deal  of  time  to  little  purpose  ;  so  he  received 
as  much  encouragement  from  Canterbury  as  he  had  reason  to 
expect.  Welcome  at  all  times  to  his  Table,  and  speaking 
honourably  to  him  upon  all  occasions,  till  the  times  were 
changed,  when  either  finding  the  impossibility  of  his  Under 
taking,  or  wanting  the  supply  of  that  Oyl  which  maintained 
his  Lamp,  he  proved  a  true  Scot  as  the  rest  of  the  Nation, 
laying  the  blame  of  his  miscarriage  in  it,  on  the  want  of 
Encouragement  ;  and  speaking  disgracefully  of  the  man 
which  had  given  him  most." 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  343. 


it?*o633']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  \  9  7 

I  had  already  hinted  that  the  project  practically  failed  for 
want  of  "Oyl." 

Let  us  for  a  time  disregard  external  matters  and  consider 
Laud's  life  at  his  own  palace  at  Lambeth,  now  that  he  was 
settled  there  as  archbishop. 

He  rose  early,  often  by  candle-light,  and  spent  an  hour  or 
so  in  devotion  and  spiritual  reading.  Then  he  took  a  plain 
breakfast  of  bread  and  water.  He  was  quite  an  exception  in 
drinking  this  unintoxicating  fluid  at  such  an  hour,  as  ale  was 
then  the  usual  beverage  at  breakfast.  After  his  breakfast, 
he  received  his  secretary  and  chaplain,  and  at  ten  o'clock  he 
went  to  the  service  in  his  chapel,  which  was  attended  by  his 
household  of  more  than  a  hundred  people,  consisting  ex 
clusively  of  men.  Not  long  after  the  morning  service,  came  the 
great  meal  of  the  day,  dinner  ;  so  the  lightness  of  Laud's  break 
fast  was  no  proof  of  extreme  asceticism.  At  the  archiepiscopal 
dinner,  open  house  was  kept,  and  it  was  served  in  the  hall, 
the  archbishop  and  his  more  important  guests,  which  often 
included  members  of  the  court,  sitting  at  the  cross-table  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  room.  Mr  Benson  tells  us  T  that  Laud 
dined  in  his  rochet,  and  wore  it  when  out  walking  and  at 
court,  rarely  taking  it  off,  except  in  his  study  or  garden,  and 
he  has  doubtless  good  authority  for  saying  so  ;  certainly  in 
most  of  Laud's  portraits  he  is  thus  represented  and  with  a 
square  college-cap  on  his  head  ;  in  the  portraits  of  Bishop 
Andrews  the  same  dress  is  worn  ;  but  the  bishops  of  the 
period  do  not  appear  to  have  invariably  worn  their  rochets  ; 
for  in  the  frontispiece  to  Hackett's  Life  of  Archbishop 
Williams,  a  black  gown  and  square  cap  are  given,  and  in 
two  engravings,  one  of  which  will  be  noticed  presently,  Laud 
wears  a  black  cassock  and  close-fitting  black  cap,  although 
it  is  but  fair  to  say  that  both  represent  him  after  his  deposi 
tion. 

After  dinner,  Laud  commonly  went  to  the  Council  or  the 
Star  Chamber,  in  his  barge,  his  pike-bearers  attending  him.2 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  158. 

2  The  pikes  are  still  at  Lambeth.     See  Benson,  p.   159,  from  whom  I  take 
most  of  this  account  of  Laud's  daily  life. 


198  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

If  he  did  not  leave  the  palace,  he  gave  audiences.  These  fre 
quently  took  place  in  the  garden,  if  the  weather  permitted,  or, 
if  it  did  not,  in  the  gallery,  while  he  paced  up  and  down  for 
the  sake  of  exercise.  At  about  four  or  five  o'clock,  he  went 
to  Evensong  in  his  chapel.  After  that,  he  took  a  time  of 
quiet  study,  unless  more  immediately  important  duties  de 
manded  his  attention.  Then  followed  his  supper,  which  he 
took  in  private,  and,  soon  afterwards,  he  went  to  bed. 

Laud's  recreation  is  said  by  some  of  his  biographers  to 
have  been  music.  Mr  Benson  maintains  this  opinion,  chiefly 
on  the  strength  of  "  a  harp,  a  chest  of  viols,  and  a  harpsico 
in  his  parlour  at  Lambeth,"  being  mentioned  in  his  will.  He 
put  an  organ  in  each  of  the  houses  which  he  inhabited ;  but, 
as  Mr  Benson  very  fairly  says,  that  he  should  do  so  is  not 
surprising  when  we  consider  his  liturgical  inclinations. 

While  we  are  looking  at  him  in  his  home,  we  may  observe 
his  small  stature,  his  red  and  plump,  if  not  exactly  fat,  face, 
with  its  high  eyebrows,  its  moustache  a  little  turned  up  at 
the  ends,  and  its  imperial,  his  hair,  unlike  that  of  most  of  the 
people  about  the  court  of  Charles  I.,  cut  very  short,  his  restless, 
jerky,  imperious  manner,  and  his  hard,  rasping,  disagreeable 
voice.  Probably  his  most  striking  features  were  his  glittering, 
intelligent  eyes,  and  his  strongly-bridged  nose — a  nose  with 
a  good  deal  of  decision  of  character  visible  in  its  not  very 
pointed  end. 

So  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  he  never  took  a  holiday  or 
allowed  himself  any  recreation ;  on  the  other  hand,  such 
things  would  not  be  likely  to  be  recorded  in  a  concise,  and 
rather  irregularly  kept,  diary ;  nor  would  a  contemporary 
biographer,  such  as  Heylin,  be  likely  to  make  any  mention  of 
them.  We  know,  however,  that  he  went  to  court,  and  the 
very  anterooms  of  the  great  men  whom  he  must  have  had 
constant  occasion  to  visit  were  the  scenes  of  what  amounted 
to  social  gatherings,  in  which,  while  awaiting  his  turn  for 
audience,  he  could  talk  politics,  hear  the  freshest  and  raciest 
gossip,  or  discuss  the  latest  poems  of  Milton,  Ben  Jonson,  or 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

Unencumbered  by  a  wife  or  family,  he  was  free  to  concen- 


STec'633']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  1 99 

trate  all  his  thoughts  and  energies  upon  ecclesiastical  and 
political  affairs.  If  he  had  no  wife,  or  child,  or  recreation, 
or  hobby,  properly  so  called,  he  had  none  the  less  plenty  of 
variety  of  interest  to  pass  his  time  and  entertain  him.  His 
secular  posts  and  appointments  must  have  occupied  him 
almost  as  much  as  his  ecclesiastical,  his  correspondence  with 
Wentworth  and  others  was  probably  no  less  a  pleasure  and 
an  amusement  than  a  duty  and  a  labour,  and  it  is  pretty 
clear  that  he  enjoyed  nothing  so  much  as  the  exercise  of 
power,  of  which  he  had  an  extraordinary  share. 

Perhaps  his  chief  amusement  was  his  garden  in  the  front  court 
of  Lambeth  Palace.  Here  he  himself  planted  some  fig-trees, 
and  here  a  tortoise,  about  sixty  years  old,  which  had  been  given 
to  him  long  before  at  Oxford,  used  to  appear  from  its  winter 
hiding-place  at  the  first  burst  of  spring,  and  crawl  stiffly 
about.  Mr  Benson  l  tells  us  that  he  found,  among  a  number 
of  dusty  relics  in  the  palace,  a  tortoise-shell,  on  which  was 
fastened  a  piece  of  paper,  inscribed,  "  The  shell  of  a  tortoise 
which  was  put  into  the  garden  at  Lambeth  in  the  year  1633, 
where  it  remained  till  the  year  1753,"  tne  remainder  of  the 
almost  illegible  writing  appearing  to  imply  that  it  then  met 
with  its  death  through  some  accident  or  negligence. 

On  one  side  of  the  garden  were  the  great  gates,  destined  to 
be  assaulted  by  rioters  some  years  later  ;  on  the  other  were 
some  high  elms,  under  which  Laud  used  to  pace  up  and  down 
when  giving  interviews  to  clergy  or  to  statesmen  ;  and  the 
middle  of  the  court  was  covered  with  grass. 

There  are  several  engraved  portraits  of  Laud,  one  of  the 
best  being  the  frontispiece  in  his  Troubles  and  Tryal ;  but 
his  face  has  been  perhaps  most  faithfully  presented  to  pos 
terity  by  Vandyke,  in  the  oil  painting  hanging  in  the  guard 
room,  now  used  as  the  dining-room,  at  Lambeth  Palace. 

"  Again  and  again," 2  says  Mr  Benson,  "  I  have  heard  people 
ask,  'And  who  is  that  very  extraordinary-looking  person?' 
and,  on  being  told  who  it  is,  say  in  a  tone  of  incredulous  be 
wilderment,  '  That  Laud  ! "  As  a  criticism  of  the  portrait, 
he  presently  adds  : — "  If  faces  betray  character,  this  man  had 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"p.  ii.  2P.  8. 


200  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [St?6o633' 

little  of  the  saint  about  him."  One  of  the  least  known,  but 
most  interesting,  of  his  portraits,  is  an  engraving  by  Marshall, 
in  a  very  rare  little  book,  or  tract,  called  Laud's  Recanta 
tion.  In  this  he  wears  a  sort  of  cassock  and  girdle,  a  ruff 
round  his  neck,  and  the  plain  black  cap  on  his  head,  which  is 
to  be  seen  below  the  square  college-cap  in  the  pictures  repre 
senting  him  in  his  rochet  and  lawn-sleeves.  He  wears  a 
similar  dress  in  the  picture  of  his  trial,  in  Prynne's  Breviate. 
In  Marshall's  engraving  there  are  the  same  raised  eyebrows 
and  turned-up  moustaches  as  in  the  portrait  in  his  Diary ; 
but  the  stern,  prosperous  expression  has  given  place  to  one 
of  sorrow  and  regret,  or,  as  a  much  abler  critic  than  myself 
puts  it,  "great  astonishment  at  the  plight  in  which  he  finds 
himself."  My  readers,  however,  can  judge  for  themselves,  as 
a  copy  of  it  forms  the  frontispiece  to  this  volume. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

WE  left  Laud  in  the  peaceful  dignity  of  his  palace  at  Lam 
beth  ;  \ve  must  now  accompany  him  to  the  more  stirring 
scene  of  the  Star  Chamber. 

A  certain  William  Prynne,  the  son  of  a  farmer  living  be 
tween  Clifton  and  Henbury  (probably  a  sheep-farmer  on 
Durdham  Downs,  and  later  an  agent  for  a  property  near 
Bath,  belonging  to  Oriel  College,  Oxford),  and  his  wife, 
Marie  (a  daughter  of  Sherston,  Mayor  of  Bath,  and  member 
of  Parliament  for  that  city  for  four  years),  became  an  under 
graduate  at  Oriel,  and  afterwards  a  student  at  Lincoln's  Inn. 
He  inherited  from  ,£"150  to  £200  a  year  from  his  father — a 
good  income  in  those  days — and  had  every  prospect  of  a 
comfortable,  prosperous,  and  honoured  life. 

Unfortunately,  he  could  not  leave  well  alone ;  but  must 
needs  write  and  publish  a  book  of  above  one  thousand  pages, 
called  Histrio-mastrtX)  against  theatres,  balls,  hunting, 
"  Christmas-keeping,"  May-poles,  bonfires,  public  festivals, 
the  erection  of  altars  in  churches,  "  cringing  and  ducking  to 
altars,"  "  silk  and  satin  divines,"  and  the  "  barking,"  and 
"roaring,"  and  "grunting"  of  choristers. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  style,  I  may  quote  the  following 
extract  from  the  part  which  treats  of  theatricals : — "  God 
forbedd  that  any  whoe  have  beene  dir^ped  in  the  sacred  laver 
of  Regeneracion,  any  that  have  been  bathed,  &c.,  should 
prove  such  desperate  incarnate  devills,  such  monsters  of 
ympiety,  such  atheisticall  Judases  to  their  lord  and  Master, 
such  perjured  cutt  throates  to  their  Religion,  such  apostates 
or  undeplored  enimyes  to  their  owne  salvation,  or  such  will- 
full  bloody  murtherers  to  their  owne  soules,  as  to  approve  or 
justifye  or  to  practise  these  stage  playes." 

For  publishing  this  "  libellous  volume,"  Prynne  was  sum- 


202  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [I??*,1.633' 

moned  before  the  Court  of  High  Commission  in  the  Star 
Chamber ;  his  trial  lasted  three  days,  and,  on  the  fourth,  the 
Court  proceeded  to  pass  sentence. 

Lord  Cottington,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  began. 
Mr  Prynne,  he  said,  had  published  a  volume  of  libels  express 
ing,  in  a  manner,  a  malice1  "against  all  mankind,  and  the 
best  sort  of  mankind,  against  King,  prince,  peer,  prelates, 
magistrates  and  governors,  and  truly  in  a  manner  against  all 
things.  But  that  which  hath  been  more  remarkable,  is,  his 
spleen  against  the  church  and  government  of  it." 

Lord  Cottington's  sentence  was  a  very  long  one.  When 
he  came  to  the  practical  part,  he  ordered  him  to  be  disbarred, 
"  and  because  he  had  his  offspring  from  Oxford  ('  now,'  with  a 
low  voice,  said  the  bishop  of  Canterbury,  '  I  am  sorry  that 
ever  Oxford  bred  such  an  evil  member ')  there  to  be  degraded. 
And  I  do  condemn  Mr  Prynne  to  stand  in  the  pillory  in  two 
places,  in  Westminster  and  Cheapside,  and  that  he  shall  lose 
both  his  ears,  one  in  each  place  ;  and  with  a  paper  on  his 
head,  declaring  how  foul  an  offence  it  is."  "  And  lastly  (nay, 
not  lastly)  I  do  condemn  him  in  £5000  fine  to  the  King. 
And,  lastly,  perpetual  imprisonment." 

The  next  judge  fined  him  another  ^5000,  and  ordered  him 
to  "be  restrained  from  writing,  neither  to  have  pen,  ink,  or 
paper ;  yet  let  him  have,"  said  he,  "  some  pretty  prayer-book, 
to  pray  to  God  to  forgive  him  his  sins." 

The  third  judge  fined  him  "  ;£  10,000,  which  is  more  than 
he  is  worth,  yet  less  than  he  deserveth,"  and  ordered  him  to 
be  branded  in  the  forehead  and  slit  in  the  nose,  as  he  feared 
that  he  might  conceal  the  disgrace  of  his  crept  ears  by  forcing 
*'his  conscience  to  make  use  of  his  unlovely  love-locks  on 
both  sides." 

Laud  merely  remarked  that  he  was  "sorrye  that  a  man 
that  hath  been  so  prayerfull  and  had  soe  good  breedinge 
should  soe  ill  bestowe  his  labour  to  such  haynous  endes." 2 
Yet  it  was  with  Laud  that  Prynne  was  most  angry,  and 
to  whom  he  attributed  his  arrest,  conviction,  and  cruel 
punishment. 

1  "  Slate  Trials,"  vol.  i.  p.  417.  2  Official  Summary  of  the  Trial. 


3*]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  203 

On  the  nth  of  June  1634,  Laud  writes  in  his  Diary: — 
""  Mr  Prynne  sent  me  a  very  Libellous  Letter,  about  his  Cen 
sure  in  the  Star-Chamber  for  his  Histriomastrix,  and  what  I 
said  at  that  Censure  ;  in  which  he  hath  many  ways  mistaken 
me  and  spoken  untruth  of  me." 

This  letter,  which  is  written  from  prison,  where  Laud  had 
obtained  for  him  the  favour  of  writing  materials,  is  a  very 
long  one ;  it  will  be  sufficient  that  I  should  quote  its  ending.1 

"  And  thus  desiring  God  of  his  infinite  mercy  to  pardon,  to 
purge  out  all  the  venom e,  malice,  and  violence  of  your  heart 
against  myself  and  others,  and  put  bowells  of  mercy,  pitty, 
meekness,  and  affection  towards  good  men  into  you,  and  to 
give  you  grace  unfainedly  to  repent  of  all  your  violent,  unjust, 
extravagant,  oppressive,  vexatious,  despitefull  courses  and 
proceedings  which  crye  aloud  for  vengeance  against  you,  and 
will  certainly  end  in  misery,  ruyne,  if  not  in  hell  itself,  if  you 
runne  on  madding  in  them,  without  restraint  or  feare,  I 
humbly  take  my  leave,  and  rest  Your  Grace's  oppressed  one, 
seeking,  not  grace,  but  justice  from  you, 

"WILLIAM  PRYNNE." 

A  letter  written  in  such  a  tone  was  not  very  well  calculated 
to  soften  the  heart  of  an  oppressor,  and  Laud  simply  showed 
it  to  the  king,  who  commanded  him  to  hand  it  to  "  Mr 
Atturney  Noye."  -  Laud  shall  tell  us  what  followed.  "  Junij 
17.  Mr  Atturney  sent  for  Mr  Prynn  to  his  Chamber; 
shewed  him  the  Letter,  asked  him  whether  it  were  his  hand. 
Mr  Prynn  said  ;  he  could  not  tell,  unless  he  might  read  it. 
The  Letter  being  given  into  his  hand,  lie  tore  it  into  small 
pieces,  threw  it  out  at  the  Window,  and  said,  that  should 
never  rise  in  Judgment  against  him  :  Fearing,  it  seems,  an 
Ore  tenus  for  this." 

"Junij  1 8.  Mr  Atturney  brought  him,  for  this,  into  the 
Star-Chamber ;  where  all  this  appear'd  with  shame  enough  to 
Mr  Prynn.  I  there  forgave  him,  &c." 

So  far,  so  good  ;  but  I  must  anticipate  by  saying  that  in 

1  "Documents  relating  to  Wm.  Prynne."     S.  R.  Gardiner,  p.  56. 

2  Diary,  p.  50. 


204  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

1637,  Prynne,  with  Bastwick  and  Burton,  was  again  brought 
before  the  Star  Chamber  "for  their  Libells  against  the 
Hierarchy  of  the  Church." 

This  time,  something  like  twenty  judges  passed  sentence 
upon  him  ;  some  adding  penalties,  others  merely  confirming,, 
or  expressing  their  approval  of,  the  sentences  already  passed. 
Juxon,  then  Bishop  of  London,  "condempnes  the  booke  to 
the  fyer."  Lord  Dorset  says  : — "  This  man  wilbe  affrighted  at 
a  three-cornered  capp,  sweate  at  a  surplus,  sighe  to  heare 
musicke,  swounde  to  the  signe  of  the  crosse,  yett  will  make 
noe  conscyence  to  lye,  forsweare,  and  perjure  him  selfe,  and 
for  the  advantage  of  the  common  cause  to  rayle  upon  the 
Kinges  estate,  and  instructe  treason.  Hee  is  all  purple 
within,  all  pryde,  all  mallyce,  all  spite." 

Much  time  must  already  have  been  occupied  by  those 
sentences,  yet  when  it  came  to  Laud's  turn  he  occupied  two 
hours  in  delivering  his  judgment.  "  Hee  spake  two  howers 
out  of  a  note  booke  prepard  for  that  purpose,"1  and  he 
divided  his  matter  into  fourteen  heads.  In  the  course  of  it, 
he  contrived  to  give  a  side  thrust  at  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln's 
"  book  lately  publisht,  the  Bishopp  of  Lincoln  being  present 
to  heare  it,  when  his  Grace  said  the  Bishopp  was  mistaken, 
and  that  as  learned  as  himselfe  were  of  that  oppinion.  His 
Grace  past  no  sentence,  but  he  gave  the  lords  thankes  that 
did  passe  sentence  upon  those  delinquents." 

He  was  heard  to  remark  to  another  of  the  Council,  how 
ever,  that  there  was  still  a  good  deal  of  Prynne's  ears  that 
would  bear  cropping,  and  that  at  his  first  execution,  the 
hangman  had  merely  cut  away  "  the  seams  "  ;  an  observation 
which  Prynne,  if  he  overheard  it,  would  certainly  consider 
ill-natured,  as  well  as  suggestive.  Although  Laud,  in  neither 
sentence,  assigned  any  actual  bodily  penalty  to  Prynne,  he 
incurred  his  bitter  hatred  ;  and  Prynne  may  have  believed,, 
nor  without  reason,  that  while,  as  a  bishop,  he  considered  it 
more  seemly  to  leave  the  sentencing  to  bodily  pains  to  the 
secular  arm,  he  took  good  care  to  instruct  the  secular  arm  as- 
to  the  ghastly  details. 

1  News  Letter  from  C.  Rossingham,  15  June  1637. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  205 

Undoubtedly  Prynne  was  a  very  unsatisfactory  character  ; 
but,  as  he,  rightly  or  wrongly,  attributed  all  his  sufferings, 
which  were  great  and  many,  to  Laud,  it  is  scarcely  a  matter 
for  surprise  that  he  should  have  felt  ill-will  towards  him.  It 
is  true  that  John  Selden  said  : — "  Men  cry  out  upon  the 
high  commission,  as  if  only  clergymen  had  to  do  with  it ; 
when  I  believe  there  are  more  laymen  in  commission  there, 
than  clergymen.  If  the  laymen  will  not  come,  whose  fault  is 
that  ?  So  of  the  star-chamber,  the  people  think  the  bishops 
only  censured  Prynne,  Burton,  and  Bastwick,  when  there 
wrere  but  two  there,  and  one  spoke  not  in  his  own  cause."  1 

On  the  other  hand,  another  writer2  says  : — "  The  King  and 
Queen  did  nothing  direct  against  him  (Prynne)  till  Laud  set 
Dr  Heylin  (who  bore  a  great  malice  to  Prynne  for  confuting 
some  of  his  doctrines)  to  peruse  Prynne's  book,  &c.  The 
archbishop  went  with  these  notes  to  Mr  Attorney  Noy,  and 
charged  him  to  prosecute  Prynne,  which  Noy  afterwards  did 
vigorously  enough  in  the  Star  Chamber,  &c." 

The  second  sentence  passed  on  Prynne  had  much  in 
common  with  the  first ;  but,  in  effect,  it  was  more  severe ; 
for  when  he  was  in  the  pillory  on  the  two  first  occasions,  he 
promised  the  hangman  five  pieces  of  silver,  if  he  would  use 
him  "  kyndly," 3  so  that  official  had  merely  snipped  off  a 
little  of  the  rim  of  his  ears,  and  performed  the  other  dis 
agreeable  duties  as  mercifully,  and  with  as  much  considera 
tion  for  the  comfort  of  his  patient,  as  was  possible  under  the 
circumstances.  After  the  operation  was  over,  however,  "  Prin 
gave  him  but  halfe  a  crowne,  in  six  pences,"  instead  of  five 
shillings,  which  was  the  amount  which  the  hangman  had 
understood  by  Prynne's  offer  of  five  pieces  of  silver.  When 
Prynne  was  put  into  the  pillory,  four  years  later,  the  "haing- 
man  was  quitt  with  him."  He  "  burnt  Prin,"  says  the  autho 
rity  above  quoted,  "  in  both  the  cheekes,  and,  as  I  heare, 
because  hee  burnt  one  cheeke  with  a  letter  the  wronge  waye  " 
(owing,  no  doubt,  to  the  sixpences  instead  of  shillings),  "  hee 
burnt  that  againe  ;  precently  a  surgeon  clapt  a  plaster  to  take 

1  Selden's  "Table  Talk,"  ed.  1892,  p.  45. 
-  Whitclock,  "Memorials,"  p.  18.         3  S.  P.  O.  Dom.  vol.  ccclxii.  No.  42. 


206  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

out  the  fire.  The  haingman  hewed  off  Prin's  eares  very 
scurvily,  which  putt  him  to  much  paine,  and  after  hee  stood 
longer  in  the  pillorye  before  his  head  could  be  gott  out.'* 
The  sixpences  had  probably  something  to  do  with  this  also. 

I  may  mention,  in  passing,  that  several  other  prisoners  were 
tried  in  the  Star  Chamber  at  the  same  time  as  Prynne.  One 
of  them  was  condemned  by  Cottington  to  stand  in  the 
pillory  in  St  Paul's  churchyard.  "  It  is  a  consecrated  place/* 
exclaimed  Laud.  "  I  cry  your  grace's  mercy,"  said  Lord 
Cottington  ;  "  then  let  it  be  in  Cheapside." l 

The  severities  of  the  Court  of  High  Commission,  so  far  as 
they  affected  ecclesiastical  and  religious  offences,  were  almost 
universally  attributed  to  Laud.  I  will  give  a  few  examples 
of  the  cases  of  such  a  nature  that  came  before  it. 

The  Rector  of  Tretire  with  Michael  Church,  co.  Hereford, 
was  accused  of  having  seldom  read  the  Litany  except  in 
Lent,  and  of  having  omitted  parts  of  the  service,  "  as  for  ex 
ample,  when  he  came  to  the  Psalms,  or  to  one  of  the  Lessons, 
he  would  leave  reading  and  fall  to  expounding."  "  That 
done,"  he  would  go  up  to  the  pulpit  and  begin  his  sermon. 
In  expounding,  he  inveighed  by  name  against  some  of  his 
parishioners  with  whom  he  was  offended.  For  these,  and 
sundry  other  irregularities,  "  the  court  pronounced  him  a 
man  incorrigible,"  as,  indeed,  he  appears  to  have  been, 
"and  ordered  him  to  be  deprived  and  suspended  from  his 
ministry."  2 

The  Vicar  of  Poslingford,  Suffolk,  when  preaching,  "  in  his 
gesture  "  "  feigns  some  man  whom  he  aims  at,  throwing  out 
his  arm  against  the  said  party."3  Augustine  Moreland, 
of  Stroud,  Kent,  gentleman,  "  was  much  given  to  excessive 
drinking,  and  at  such  times  swore  most  desperate  oaths  and 
blasphemed  the  name  of  God."  4  The  Court  "  ordered  him 
to  make  acknowledgement  at  his  parish  church  in  certain 
words  to  be  set  down  by  the  commissioners,  fined  him  ^"500 
to  the  King,  and  condemned  him  in  costs.  Lastly,  he  was 
committed  to  the  gate-house  till  he  gave  bond  with  sureties 

1  "  Celebrated  Trials,"  vol.  i.  p.  420. 
2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1634-5,  p.  263.  3  /#.,  p.  319.          4  /£.,  p.  330. 


34']  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  207 

to  perform  the  order  of  the  court."  This  was  very  different 
from  the  five  shillings  and  costs  usual  for  drunkenness,  and 
what  the  police  call  "  offull  language,"  in  these  days. 

One,  George  Gayre,  appears  to  have  been  a  Catholic,  at 
whose  house  chalices  and  vestments  had  been  seized  ;  for  the 
Court  made  the  following  pronouncement : — "  The  massing- 
stufif  and  chalices  ordered  to  be  defaced  and  delivered  to  the 
owner  if  he  will  come  into  the  court  and  require  them."1 

John  Etkins,  of  Isham,  was  "charged  with  irreverent 
behaviour  in  wearing  his  hat  during  divine  service,  in  causing 
£100  to  be  told  over  upon  the  communion-table"  inpayment 
for  some  land,  "and  in  saying  in  the  streets  of  Isham  in  scorn 
that  a  ploughman  is  as  good  as  a  priest.  Fined  ,£100, 
ordered  to  make  a  public  submission  in  the  church  of  Isham, 
and  condemned  in  costs."  • 

The  Vicar  of  Brigstock  had  resorted  to  the  mean  trick  of 
causing  "  the  clerk  to  lock  the  church  door  to  keep  in  the 
whole  congregation  in  the  winter  time  to  hear  him  preach 
until  dark  night."3  I  have  only  read  the  depositions, 
without  taking  the  trouble  of  finding  out  what  sentence  was 
passed  upon  him.  Certainly  he  deserved  a  heavy  one  ! 

We  find  a  Sir  William  Hellwys  brought  up  for  deserting 
his  wife  and  misbehaving  himself. 4  "  He  was  ordered  to  do 
penance,  more  penitential^  in  a  white  sheet,"  in  the  churches 
of  the  two  parishes  "  where  the  greatest  scandal  had  been  given 
by  him."  He  was  also  fined  .£500  and  costs. 

Trials  before  the  Court  of  High  Commission  were  by  no 
means  confined  to  the  sterner  sex.  We  have  already  seen 
how  Lady  Eleanor  Davies  was  treated,  and,  on  another 
occasion,  Laud  wrote  to  the  king  asking  his  leave  to  summon 
Lady  Falkland  before  it.  5  And  here  we  shall  see  how  he 
treated  converts  to  Catholicism.  He  wrote  to  the  king  :— 

"  Lord  Newburgh  has  acquainted  the  writer  that  Mrs 
Ann  and  Mrs  Elizabeth  Cary,  two  daughters  of  the  late 
Lord  Falkland,  are  reconciled  to  the  Church  of  Rome, 
not  without  the  practise  of  their  mother.  Presumes  his 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1634-5,  p.  322.  2  //>.,  p.  268. 

3  //;.,  p.  415.  4  /*.,  p.  553.  5  //>.,  p.  159. 


208  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [i^x1.634' 

Majesty  remembers  what  suit  Lord  Newburgh  made  at 
Greenwich,  and  what  command  his  Majesty  sent  by  Sec. 
Coke  to  the  Lady,  that  she  should  forbear  working  on 
her  daughters'  consciences,  and  suffer  them  to  go  to  their 
brother,  or  any  other  safe  place  where  they  might  receive 
such  instruction  as  was  fit  for  them.  The  Lady  trifled  out 
of  these  commands,  pretended  her  daughters'  sickness,  till 
now  they  are  sick  indeed,  yet  not  without  hope  of  recovery, 
for  as  Lord  Newburgh  informs  the  Archbishop  they  meet 
with  some  things  there  which  they  cannot  digest  and  are 
willing  to  be  taken  again  by  any  fair  way.  The  Archbishop 
has  taken  hold  of  this,  and  according  to  his  duty  has  done 
what  he  could  think  fittest  for  the  present,  but  the  greatest 
thing  he  fears  is  that  the  mother  will  still  be  practising,  and 
do  all  she  can  to  hinder.  Prays  his  Majesty's  leave  to  call 
the  old  Lady  into  the  High  Commission  if  he  find  cause  so 
to  do,  and  further  as  he  was  so  is  he  still  an  earnest  suitor 
that  she  might  be  commanded  from  Court,  where  if  she  live 
she  is  as  like  to  breed  inconvenience  to  his  Majesty  as  any 
other." 

Obviously  there  was  not  much  "  leaning  towards  Rome  " 
on  Laud's  part. 

If  he  was  quite  prepared  to  hold  out  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  to  the  various  Protestant  Churches  abroad,  and  to 
unite  with  them  in  one  great  Non-Catholic  Church,  he  ex 
pected  all  their  members,  when  in  this  country,  to  conform 
as  much  as  possible  to  the  Established  Church  of  England. 

A  Walloon  congregation  had  established  itself  at  Maid- 
stone,  and  Laud  sent  his  vicar-general,  Brent,  to  look  after 
it.  He  reported  to  Laud  x  that  he  had  seen  the  minister  and 
"  some  of  the  principal  of  the  Walloon  congregation,  to 
whom  "  he  had  "  intimated  that  all  the  natives  of  their  con 
gregation  must  resort  to  the  parish  church  of  Maidstone, 
together  with  the  English,  to  hear  divine  service  and  sermons, 
and  to  perform  all  duties  of  parishioners  ;  and  that  as  well 
minister  as  people  of  the  same  Walloon  congregation  which 
are  aliens  born  shall  have  and  use  the  Liturgy  or  Book  of 
1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dora.,"  1634-5,  p.  366. 


34']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  209 

Common  Prayer  used  in  the  English  churches,  as  the  same 
[is]  or  may  be  faithfully  translated  into  French." 

Some  months  later,  we  find  Brent  making  his  report  to 
Laud  of  the  French  and  Dutch  ministers.1  He  has  made 
them  all  promise  that  "  they  will  obey  his  commands  as  much 
as  possibly  they  can  ;  that  is,  they  will  repair  often  to  the 
English  churches  to  hear  both  divine  service  and  sermons, 
and  persuade  their  congregations  so  to  do  ;  and  say  that 
they  hope  to  induce  them  to  receive  the  blessed  Eucharist 
some  times  every  year  in  the  English  churches  also,  and  will 
do  whatsoever  else  may  be  done  without  the  utter  dissipation 
of  their  own  congregations."  Presently  he  admits  that  he 
"  could  not  get  them  to  set  down  under  their  hands,  because, 
as  they  said,  they  did  not  know  what  they  should  be  able  to 
persuade  their  several  congregations  unto." 

A  careful  study  of  Laud's  action  in  relation  to  the  foreign 
Protestant  Churches  in  England  leads  me  to  the  conclusion 
that  a  rather  mistaken  view  of  it  has  been  taken  by  several 
historians  to  whom  I  look  up  with  the  greatest  respect.  I 
almost  tremble  at  the  idea  of  questioning  the  opinion  of 
that  most  charming  writer,  the  late  John  Richard  Green.  In 
most  respects  his  short  summary  of  Laud's  character  is  un 
surpassed  2  : — "  Cold,  pedantic,  superstitious  as  he  was," 
"  William  Laud  rose  out  of  the  mass  of  court-prelates  by 
his  industry,  his  personal  unselfishness,  his  remarkable 
capacity  for  administration.  At  a  later  period,  when  im 
mersed  in  State-business,  he  found  time  to  acquire  so  com 
plete  a  knowledge  of  commercial  affairs  that  the  London 
merchants  themselves  owned  him  a  master  in  matters  of 
trade.  Of  statesmanship  he  had  none."  And  much  else  in 
the  same  style  is  excellent.  But  when  he  proceeds  to  say 3 
that  he  aimed  at  "  the  severance  of  whatever  ties  had  hitherto 
united  the  English  Church  to  the  Reformed  Churches  of  the 
Continent,"  and  that  "in  Laud's  view  episcopal  succession 
was  of  the  essence  of  a  Church  ;  and  by  their  rejection  of 
bishops  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic  Churches  of  Germany 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1634-5,  p.  575. 
2  "  Hist,  of  the  Eng.  People,"  vol.  iii.  p.  157.  3  /£.,  p.  158. 


2  io  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

and  Switzerland  had  ceased  to  be  Churches  at  all,"  I  cannot 
follow  him.  As  we  have  already  seen,  Laud  distinctly  says  1 
that  although  the  Lutherans  had  not  retained  the  name  of 
bishops,  they  had  retained  "  the  Thing."  "  For  instead  of 
Bishops  they  are  called  Superintendents." 

Mr  Green  writes  : — "  The  freedom  of  worship  therefore 
which  had  been  allowed  to  the  Huguenot  refugees  from  France 
or  the  Walloons  from  Flanders,  was  suddenly  withdrawn  ; 
and  the  requirement  of  conformity  with  the  Anglican  ritual 
drove  them  in  crowds  from  the  southern  ports  to  seek  tolera 
tion  in  Holland." 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  Laud  pressed  the  descendants  of 
the  members  of  the  Dutch  and  French  Churches,  who  had 
settled  in  England,  to  conform  to  the  Church  of  the  country, 
but  not  on  the  score  of  their  having  no  bishops.  If  we  read 
carefully  through  his  address  to  the  Lords  "  concerning  the 
Dutch  and  French  Churches  in  England,"  we  shall  not  find  a 
word  about  any  want  of  apostolical  succession.  His  reasons 
for  desiring  that  they  might  be  obliged  to  attend  the  Anglican 
Churches  were  very  different.  He  says 2  that  when  they  were 
persecuted  in  their  own  countries,  "  it  was  honour  and  piety  in 
this  State,  when  at  the  first  way  was  given  for  those  Churches, 
both  in  London  and  some  other  parts  of  the  kingdom  "  ;  but 
he  conceives  that  it  was  never  intended  that  if  the  descendants 
of  the  members  of  those  Churches  remained  in  England  and 
obtained  the  privileges  of  British  citizens,  they  should  retain 
religious  exemptions  denied  to  other  British  citizens,  and  con 
stitute  "  a  Church  within  a  Church  " — observe  that  he  does 
not  deny  that  each  of  the  foreign  bodies  was  a  Church  ;  on 
the  contrary,  he  uses  the  very  words  commonly  used  by  High 
Anglicans  when  objecting  to  the  existence  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  England  ;  yet  they  never  question  its  "  Episcopal 
Succession  " — and  he  says  that  they  would  "  in  time  grow  to 
be  a  kind  of  another  commonwealth  within  this,"  and  be  "  an 
absolutely  divided  body  from  the  Church  of  England  estab 
lished,  which  must  needs  work  upon  their  affections,  alienate 

1  "Hist., "p.  141. 

2  "  Libr.  Ang.  Cath.  Theo.,"  vol.  vi.  part  i.  pp.  25,  26. 


34']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  2 1  r 

them  from  the  State,  or  at  least  made  them  ready  for  any 
innovation  that  may  sort  better  with  their  humour."  He 
suggested  that  if  they  must  needs  "  continue  as  a  divided 
body  from  both  State  and  Church,  that  they  be  used  as 
strangers,  and  not  as  natives.  That  is,  that  they  may  pay 
all  double  duties,  as  strangers  use  to  do,  and  have  no  more 
immunities  than  strangers  have,  till  they  will  live  and  con 
verse  as  other  subjects  do." 

Moreover,  when,  in  his  trial  for  high  treason,  he  was 
charged  with  having  "  Trayterously  endeavoured  to  cause 
Division  and  Discord  between  the  Church  of  England  and 
other  Reformed  Churches  ;  and,  to  that  end,  hath  Suppressed 
and  Abrogated  the  Priveleges  and  Immunities,  which  have 
been  by  his  Majesty  and  his  Royal  Ancestors  granted  to  the 
French  and  Dutch  Churches  in  this  Kingdom,"  l  he  replied — 
"  All  which  I  did  concerning  those  Churches,  was  with  this 
Moderation,  that  all  those  of  their  several  Congregations,  in 
London,  Canterbury,  Sandwich,  Norwich,  or  elsewhere,  which 
were  of  the  second  Descent,  and  born  in  England,  should 
repair  to  their  several  Parish  Churches,  and  Conform  them 
selves  to  the  Doctrine,  Discipline,  and  Liturgy  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  not  live  continually  in  an  open  Separation, 
as  if  they  were  an  Israel  in  Egypt,  to  the  great  distraction  of 
the  Natives  of  this  Kingdom."  : 

In  proof  of  my  contention  that  Laud's  desire  that  the 
members  of  the  French  and  Walloon  Protestant  Churches 
should  conform  themselves  to  the  Church  of  the  country  did 
not  necessarily  imply  any  objection  to  those  Churches  in 
themselves,  I  may  point  to  the  custom  of  the  Catholic  Church 
with  regard  to  the  members  of  local  churches,  with  peculiar 
rites  and  uses,  but  in  communion  with,  and  under  obedience 
to  Rome,  when  they  visit  or  take  up  their  permanent  abode 
in  other  countries.  I  believe  that  I  am  correct  in  saying  that 
supposing,  for  instance,  a  party  of  miners  from  a  country  in 
which  the  Slav  rite  is  in  use,  were  to  come  over  to  work  in 
the  Cheshire  salt  mines — as  indeed  actually  happened  some 
years  ago — if  one  of  their  own  Slav  priests  came  with  them, 

'"Hist., "P.  374-  a/*.,p.  378. 


212  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  LS^Ii!634' 

and  were  allowed  the  use  of  an  altar,  or  a  church,  for  the 
performance  of  his  native  rite,  they  would  be  instructed  to 
attend  his  ministrations  ;  but  if  no  Slav  priest  were  within 
reach,  then  they  would  be  told  to  attend  those  of  the  ordinary 
Catholic  priest  of  the  parish.  If,  however,  they  were  to  settle 
for  good  and  all  in  the  country,  and  their  children  were  to 
become  British  subjects,  the  Catholic  Church  would  not  allow 
a  permanent  Slav  Church  to  be  established  in  Cheshire  under 
Slav  priests,  but  would  expect  the  descendants  of  the  original 
settlers  to  conform  themselves  to  the  uses  of  their  Catholic 
neighbours  and  fellow-citizens.  Yet  this  would  not  imply  the 
least  question  of  either  the  validity  of  Slav  orders,  or  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  Slav  liturgy  or  discipline,  all  three  of  which 
Rome  fully  recognises  and  approves.  It  is  true  that  at  Rome 
there  is  a  permanent  altar,  or  church,  for  every  rite  ;  but,  as 
pilgrims  from  all  countries  go  constantly  to  Rome,  the  centre 
of  Christendom,  the  case  is  exceptional. 

I  do  not  pretend  that  such  instances  as  the  above  are  exact 
parallels  to  that  of  Laud  and  the  foreign  Protestant  Churches 
in  England  ;  but  I  submit  that  there  is  enough  in  common 
between  them  to  justify  Laud's  action  towards  the  French 
and  Walloon  Congregations  without  the  necessity  of  suppos 
ing  that  he  objected  to  those  churches  in  themselves. 

Again,  Mr  Green  wrote  1  : — "  The  same  conformity  was  re 
quired  from  the  English  soldiers  and  merchants  abroad,  who 
had  hitherto  attended  without  scruple  the  services  of  the 
Calvinistic  churches." 2  But  Laud's  wish  appears  to  have 
been  to  have  English  chaplains  attached  to  the  regiments, 
and  that  their  appointment  should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  two 
English  archbishops.  Certain  "  unconformable  "  clergymen, 
who  had  been  turned  out  of  their  own  livings  or  cures  at  home, 
had  gone  abroad  and  persuaded  the  colonels  of  English 
regiments  to  engage  them  as  chaplains.  Against  such  as 
these*Laud  waged  a  fierce  war.  "  The  several  colonels  in  the 
Low  Countries  should  entertain  no  minister  as  preacher  to 
their  regiments,  but  such  as  shall  conform  in  all  things  to 
the  Church  of  England  established,  and  be  commended  unto 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  378.  *  "  Hist,  of  the  Eng.  People,"  vol.  iii.  p.  158. 


34-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  2 1 3 

them  from  your  Lordships  by  advice  of  the  Lords  Archbishops 
of  Canterbury  or  York  for  the  time  being."  "  The  company  of 
merchants  residing  there,  or  in  other  foreign  parts,  shall  admit 
no  minister  as  preacher  to  them,  but  such  as  are  so  qualified 
and  so  commended  as  aforesaid."  It  seems  also  that  the  Eng 
lish  Protestants  were  singular  in  respect  to  their  conduct  in 
Holland  ;  for  Laud  says  l  : — "  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
French  and  High  German  congregations  in  the  Low 
Countries  do  all  observe  the  Liturgy  of  their  own  Mother 
Churches ;  only  the  English  observe  neither  their  own,  nor 
any  other  uniformity."  When  the  English  soldiers  and 
English  merchants  were  observing  "  neither  their  own  nor 
any  other  uniformity,"  it  did  seem  time  that  something  should 
be  done  to  bring  them  into  some  sort  of  order,  especially  as 
they  were  engaging,  as  preachers,  disorderly  and  "  uncon- 
formable  "  clergymen  whom  the  English  bishops  would  not 
tolerate  at  home.  It  is  well  known  that  the  nonconforming 
clergy,  who  afterwards  went  to  America  and  founded  the 
State  of  New  England,  went  first  to  Holland,  and  that  it  was 
Laud's  energy,  recorded  above,  which  prevented  them  from 
obtaining  employment  in  the  Low  Countries.  I  make  bold 
to  believe  that  these  were  the  reasons,  and  not  the  want  of 
apostolical  succession  in  the  Lutheran  and  Calvinistic 
Churches,  which  made  Laud  so  anxious  that  English  subjects 
in  Holland  should  have  duly  authorized  English  chaplains. 

Laud's  conduct  towards  the  Foreign  Protestants  in  England, 
more  especially  towards  those  from  the  Palatinate,  greatly 
annoyed  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  Sir  Thomas  Roe  had 
written  to  her,  that  Laud  was  "  an  excellent  man," 2  adding  : 
— "If  your  Majesty  have  no  relation  to  him,  I  wish  you 
would  be  pleased  to  make  one,  for  he  is  very  just,  incorrupt, 
and  above  all,  mistaken  by  the  erring  world.  For  my  part  I 
do  esteem  him  a  rare  counsellor  for  integrity,  and  a  fast 
friend,  and  one  that  hath  more  interest  in  his  Majesty's 
judgment  than  any  man." 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia,  replied  3 : — "  For  my  Lord  of 

1  "Lib.  Ang.  Cath.   Theo.,"  vol.   vi.   part  i.   p.   25. 
2  S.   P.  O.  Dom.,  vol.  cclxxviii.  No.  32.  3  /£.,  vol.  cclxxxiii.  No.  36. 


214  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Canterbury,  I  am  glad  you  commend  him  so  much,  for  there 
are  but  few  that  do  it.  He  hath  indeed  sent  me  sometimes 
a  cold  compliment,  and  I  have  answered  it  in  the  same  kind. 
I  have  now  written  to  him,  at  the  entreaty  of  the  Adminis 
trator,  in  the  behalf  of  the  poor  preachers  of  the  Palatinate." 

As  Mr  Bruce  says  in  his  preface  to  the  volume  of  the 
Calendar  of  State  Papers  for  1633-4* :— "  The  Archbishop's 
watchfulness,  it  will  be  seen,  extended  to  all  persons  and  all 
classes.  Churches  of  English  people  resident  in  Holland, 
chaplains  of  English  regiments  in  the  service  of  the  presby- 
terian  Hollanders,  the  formless  and,  as  he  esteemed  it,  irrev 
erent  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  churches  in  England  of 
protestant  refugees,  who  had  fled  hither  for  conscience  sake, 
all  came  under  his  attention  at  once." 

As  to  the  Protestant  refugees,  he  was  disposed  to  tolerate 
a  good  deal,  if  they  would  but  "receive  the  blessed 
Eucharist  some  times  every  year  in  the  English  churches 
also  "  :  it  was  even  hinted  that  Catholics  would  not  be  much 
interfered  with  if  they  would  do  the  same.  Herein  is 
shown  the  extreme  anti-Catholic  spirit  of  Laud  ;  for,  whereas 
the  Catholic  Church  has  ever  guarded  its  Holy  Communion 
with  the  greatest  jealousy,  restricting  it  exclusively  to  its  own 
children,  Laud  endeavoured  to  press  the  communion  of  his 
Church  upon  everybody,  whatever  his  faith  and  creed  might 
be.  The  late  Dean  Stanley  was  blamed  by  High- Churchmen 
for  admitting  people,  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Divinity  of 
our  Lord,  to  communion  ;  yet  the  great  champion  of  their 
own  school,  Archbishop  Laud,  would  not  only  have  admitted 
them,  but  would  have  exempted  them  from  penalties  in  return 
for  their  compliance. 

1  P.  xxiv. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

PERHAPS  there  is  nothing  for  which  Laud  is  better  known 
than  his  removal  of  the  communion-tables  from  the  body  of 
the  churches  to  the  places  in  the  chancels  where  the  high 
altars  had  formerly  stood. 

As  a  protest  against  the  sacramental  teaching  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  the  ministers  of  the  new  Church  of  England,  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  had  placed  their  com 
munion-tables  in  the  body  of  the  church,  without  any  cover 
ings  upon  them,  and  allowed  them  to  be  put  to  many  ex 
ceedingly  queer  uses. 

Heylin  tells  1  us  that  it  was  ordered  in  the  visitation  of  the 
diocese  of  Canterbury,  that  the  communion-table  should  "be 
placed  altarwise,  for  it  was  urged  that  '  should  it  be  permitted 
to  stand  as  it  before  did,  Church  Wardens  would  keep  their 
accounts  on  it,  Parishioners  would  despatch  the  Parish  busi 
ness  on  it,  Schoolmasters  will  teach  their  boys  to  write  upon 
it,  the  boys  will  lay  their  hats,  satchels  and  books  upon  it, 
many  will  sit  and  lean  irreverently  against  it  in  sermon  time, 
the  Dogs  will  .  .  .  and  defile  it,  and  Glaziers  would  knock  it 
full  of  holes.' "  "  By  which  means  he  "  [Laud]  "  prevailed  so 
far,  that  of  469  Parishes  which  were  in  that  Diocese,  140  had 
conformed  to  his  Order  in  it,  before  the  end  of  the  Christmas 
holidays  of  the  present  year,  1635,  without  any  great  reluctancy 
in  Priest  or  People." 

This  is  a  bold  boast ;  but  does  it  not  seem  wonderful  that 
in  the  archdiocese  of  so  determined  a  man  as  Laud,  after  he 
had  occupied  it  two  years,  there  should  be  329  churches  out 
of  469,  in  which  the  communion-tables  were  left  in  the  body 
of  the  churches  and  not  placed  "  altarwise,"  in  direct  defiance 
of  his  orders.  Such  a  fact  seems  most  inconsistent  with  our 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"p.  271. 

215 


2 1 6  Life  of  Archbishop  Land. 

ideas  of  Laud's  autocratic  rule !  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
thing,  when  some  modern  instance  of  lax  ecclesiastical  dis 
cipline  is  mentioned,  to  hear  people  say,  "  Archbishop  Laud 
would  have  made  short  work  with  a  case  of  that  kind  !  " 
The  329  "table-wise"  communion-tables  make  one  inclined 
to  doubt  it. 

In  his  own  days,  however,  Laud  was  considered  over  stern 
in  enforcing  his  favourite  rubrics,  or  rather  his  interpretation 
of  them.  Clarendon,  who  sympathised  with  him,  did  not 
allow  his  action  in  the  matter  to  pass  altogether  uncriticised. 

1 "  The  removing  the  Communion  Table  out  of  the  body 
of  the  Church,  where  it  us'd  to  stand,"  says  he,  "  and  fixing 
it  to  one  place " — this  implies  what  is  well  known,  namely, 
that  it  used  to  be  moved  about  and  only  brought  out  when 
the  communion  service  was  going  to  be  celebrated — "'  in  the 

o  o 

upper  end  of  the  chancel,  which  frequently  made  the  buying 
a  new  Table  to  be  necessary,  the  inclosing  it  with  a  Rail  of 
Joyners  work,  and  thereby  fencing  it  off  from  the  use  of  Dogs, 
and  all  servile  uses  ;  the  obliging  of  all  Persons  to  come  up 
to  those  Rails  to  receive  the  Sacrament,  how  acceptable 
soever  to  grave  and  intelligent  Persons,  who  lov'd  Order  and 
Decency  (for  acceptable  it  was  to  such)  yet  introduc'd  first 
Murmu rings  among  the  People  (upon  the  very  Charge  and 
Expence  of  it),  and  if  the  Minister  were  not  a  man  of  dis 
cretion  and  reputation  to  Compose,  and  Reconcile  those 
Indispositions  (as  too  frequently  he  was  not,  and  rather 
inflam'd,  and  increas'd  the  Distemper)  it  begot  Suits,  and 
Appeals  at  Law."  Suits  and  appeals  at  law  must  have  been 
a  good  deal  cheaper  than  they  are  now,  if  they  cost  less  than 
"Joyners  work!  "  As  to  Laud,  himself,  Clarendon  says  that 
"guided  purely  by  his  Zeal,  and  Reverence  for  the  Place  of 
God's  Service,  and  by  the  Canons,  and  Injunctions  of  the 
Church,  with  the  custom  observ'd  in  the  King's  Chapel,  and 
in  most  Cathedral  Churches,  without  considering  the  long 
intermission,  and  discontinuance,  in  many  other  Places,"  he 
"prosecuted  this  Affair  more  Passionately  than  was  fit  for 
the  season  ;  and  had  Prejudice  against  Those,  who  out  of 

1  "Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,"  vol.  i.  p.  95. 


Srt?a6l'634-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  2  i  7 

fear,  or  foresight,  or  not  understanding  the  Thing,  had  not 
the  same  Warmth  to  promote  it." 

In  other  dioceses,  as  well  as  Canterbury,  there  were  constant 
wrangles  about  the  moving  of  the  communion-tables.  An 
action  was  brought  in  the  Court  of  Arches  l  against  one  of 
the  proctors,  the  clerk,  and  the  public  notary  of  St  Gregory's 
Church,  "  next  the  Cathedral  of  St  Paul,"  for  the  offence 
of  removing  the  communion-table  "from  its  ancient  and 
accustomed  place  in  the  middle  of  the  chancel " — this  was 
rather  an  exceptional  case,  as  the  table  was  usually,  not  in 
the  chancel,  but  in  the  body  of  the  church — "  and  placed  the 
same  altarwise  along  the  east  wall  of  the  chancel."  In  about 
a  fortnight  there  was  an  "  Order  of  the  King  in  Council  made 
on  debate  of  the  difference  which  grew  about  removing  the 
communion-table  in  St  Gregory's  Church,  £c,"  -  "  from  the 
middle  of  the  chancel  to  the  upper  end,  there  placed  altar- 
wise,  in  such  manner  as  it  stands  in  the  cathedral  and  mother 
church,  as  also  in  all  other  cathedrals,  and  his  Majesty's  own 
chapel,  and  as  is  consonant  to  the  practice  of  approved 
antiquity."  It  will  be  observed  that  there  were  two  opinions 
as  to  ancient  use  on  this  point. 

"The  King  took  the  book"3  (containing  an  injunction  of 
Queen  Elizabeth)  "  into  his  own  hand  and  read  it,  which  was 
that,  at  Communion  times,  the  table  should  stand  in  the 
body  of  the  church,  or  chancel ;  the  King  declared  that  it 
was  his  mind  that  it  should  not  stand  in  the  body  of  the 
church,  but  middle  of  the  chancel  at  Communion  times.  Dr 
Neyle  or  Neale  being  then  Archbishop  of  York,  said,  if  it 
please  your  Majesty,  where  I  and  Bishop  Buckeridge  have 
jurisdiction,  we  do  so.  Dr  Laud  stood  up  and  said,  I  did 
not  think  that  my  Lord  of  York  had  been  guilty  of  such  a  sin, 
and  prayed  God  to  forgive  him  ;  " — this  was  strong  language, 
considering  that  Neale  had  long  been  one  of  Laud's  friends 
and  patrons ; — "  then  he  called  on  Dr  Duck,  a  learned 
lawyer  to  speak,  but  he  urging  nothing  material  for  its 
standing  altarwise,  the  Archbishop  affirmed  that,  upon  his 

1  S.  P.  O.,  vol.  ccxlviii.  Xo.  18. 
'-  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1633-4,  p.  273.  3  Ib.,  1641-3,  p.  532. 


2 1 8  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

reputation,  the  Communion  Table  was  always  called  an 
Altar  in  the  primitive  church  "  (as  most  undoubtedly  it  was, 
for  that  matter),  "  and  that  the  parishioners  had  fitted  the 
chancel  up  with  pews  to  set  themselves  and  their  wives 
above  the  Communion  Table,  but  he  would  have  none  set 
above  God  Almighty  in  his  own  house ;  then  the  King 
said,  refer  it  to  the  discretion  of  the  minister  and  church 
wardens  to  take  down  at  Communion  times.  Laud  said 
that  they  would  have  it  down  to  vex  their  minister,  that  they 
would  not  kneel,  and  they  were  but  a  few  Puritans,  who, 
when  the  example  of  the  cathedral  churches  and  your 
Majesty's  chapel  was  urged,  said  that  though  your  Majesty 
suffer  idolatry  in  your  chapel,  they  will  not  do  so  in  their 
church,  &c."  On  the  next  page  it  is  stated  that  Laud  said 
that  "  when  strangers  came  from  beyond  sea  and  saw  the 
table  stand  altarwise  in  Paul's  and  went  but  out  at  the  door 
and  saw  the  table  stand  otherwise  in  St  Gregory's,  what  a 
disunion  would  they  say  was  in  the  Church  of  England,"  a 
remark  which  might  possibly  be  made  by  strangers  "from 
beyond  the  sea "  at  certain  varieties  observable  in  different 
Anglican  churches  even  to-day. 

Laud  sent  his  Vicar-General,  Brent,  to  make  an  archiepis- 
copal  visitation  in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  of  which  his  old 
enemy,  Williams,  was  bishop.  Williams  stoutly  objected, 
and  the  matter  was  referred  to  Noy,  the  Attorney-General. 

There  is  an  entry  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers l  of  an 
"  Order  or  award  of  Attorney  General  Noy  in  a  dispute 
between  Bishop  Williams  of  Lincoln  and  Archbishop  Laud. 
Bishop  Williams  claimed  an  exemption  of  his  diocese  from 
being  metropolitically  visited,  and  from  the  payment  of 
procurations,  and  also  that  if  the  Archbishop  could  of  right 
visit  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  he  ought  not  to  do  so  this  year, 
being  the  year  of  the  Bishop's  triennial  visitation,  and  that  if 
he  did,  the  archiepiscopal  visitation  should  not  interfere  with 
the  Bishop's  exercise  of  his  ordinary  jurisdiction.  The 
Attorney  General  states  at  length  the  grounds  and  proofs  on 
all  these  points,  and  finally  determines: — I.  In  favour  of  the 

1  1633-4,  p.  523. 


-j  Life  Oj:  A ^bishop  Laud.  2 1 9 

Archbishop's  right  to  visit.  2.  That  procurations  ought  of 
right  to  be  paid  to  him  on  such  visitation.  3.  That  he  might 
visit  when  the  Bishop  is  to  make  his  triennial  visitation.  4. 
He  advised  the  Bishop  to  forbear  to  exercise  jurisdiction 
ecclesiastical  during  the  visitation  metropolitical." 

Laud,  therefore,  got  the  better  of  Williams  on  every  point 
in  dispute. 

On  one  of  these  "visitations  metropolitical,"  Laud's  Vicar- 
General  found  that  Williams  had  put  the  communion-table, 
which  had  been  removed  to  the  east  end  of  the  chancel  and 
placed  altarwise,  back  into  the  middle  of  the  church.  Laud 
had  it  removed  to  the  east  end  once  again,  and,  as  he  could 
not  touch  Williams  personally,  he  marked  his  displeasure  by 
suspending  his  six  archdeacons.  l 

I  had  just  been  reading  (in  the  year  1893)  several  old 
accounts  of  the  removal  of  the  communion-tables  from  the 
bodies  of  the  churches  to  the  chancels,  at  Laud's  command, 
when  I  happened  to  take  up  a  religious  newspaper2  of  the 
week,  which  showed  how  history  repeats  itself ;  for  therein  I 
read  : — "  The  following  paper  was  read  by  the  Rev.  T.  Davies, 
Vicar  of  St  John's,  Harbourne,  Birmingham,  on  Sunday 
morning,  before  commencing  the  sermon. — Most,  if  not  all, 
of  the  congregation  will  have  observed  on  Sunday  last  that 
our  communion-table  has  been  removed  some  distance  from 
the  wall  at  the  east  end,  and  I  feel  it  due  to  the  congregation 
that  I  should  briefly  explain  why  this  has  been  done. 
Originally,  that  is,  at  the  Reformation  " — there  is  something 
very  fine  in  this,  and  a  remarkable  definition  of  ancient  use, 
as  well  as  of  the  Biblical  phrase,  "In  the  beginning" — 
"  Originally,  that  is,  at  the  Reformation,  the  tables  generally 
stood  in  the  body  of  the  church,  as  the  rubric  before  the 
communion  service  directs,  and  this,  says  the  present  Bishop 
of  London,  would  be  quite  in  accordance  with  the  law. 
But  in  this  church,  as  in  many  others,  it  is  impossible  to  place 
it  there.  Until  the  days  of  the  Romanising  Archbishop 
Laud,  the  table  was  placed  as  a  table.  But  he,  anxious 

1  Mozley's  "  Essay  on  Laud,"  p.  171. 
2   The  English  Churchman  and  St  James's  Chronicle,  January  12,  1893. 


220  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  tjan  i893. 

to  substitute  the  altar  of  Romanism  for  the  table  of  our 
Protestant  Church,  had  the  table  placed  against  the  east  wall 
that  it  may  there  appear  to  be  an  altar.  Its  position  there  is 
not,  and  never  has  been,  according  to  the  rubric.  The  faith 
ful  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  have  not  hitherto  desired 
to  alter  its  position,  but  since  what  is  known  as  the  Lincoln 
judgment  many  of  them  have  decided  to  place  the  table  in 
the  body  of  the  church  where  possible,  and  in  other  cases  to 
draw  it  so  far  from  the  east  wall  that  it  shall  be  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  a  table  such  as  the  Prayer  Book  directs.  In 
the  recent  judgments  it  was  stated  by  the  Archbishop  and 
the  Privy  Council,  that  all  those  ceremonies,  bowings,  kneel- 
ings,  making  signs  of  the  cross,  &c.,  were  '  meaningless,'  and 
we  thank  the  Archbishop  for  the  word."  ...  "  We  do  by 
this  action," — i.e.,  the  removal  of  the  communion  table  from 
the  east  wall — "  We  do  by  this  action  most  emphatically 
declare  that  the  Church  of  England  knows  nothing  of  an 
altar,  nothing  of  a  sacrifice,  except  that  of  praise,  and  thanks 
giving  and  service,  that  there  is  no  shadow  of  sacerdotalism 
attached  to  the  office  of  her  ministers,"  &c. 

In  the  same  newspaper  it  is  stated  that  "  the  Rev.  Basil  D. 
Aldwell,  another  tried  champion  of  the  Protestant  cause,  has 
also  moved  the  communion-table  into  the  middle  of  the 
chancel  of  St  Luke's  Church,  Southsea,  of  which  he  is  the 
incumbent.  Mr  Aldwell  now  stands  behind  the  table  at 
communion  time,  with  his  face  towards  the  congregation." 
So  also  does  the  Pope,  when  he  says  mass  at  the  high  altar 
of  St  Peter's  at  Rome  ;  but  that  is  apart  from  the  question 
with  which  I  am  dealing. 

I  will  now  dismiss  the  subject  of  the  position  of  the  com 
munion-tables  to  notice  another  of  Laud's  reforms,  not  so 
generally  known,  namely,  the  suppression  of  what  were 
then  termed  "  non-kneelants."  In  many  districts,  where  a 
puritanical  spirit  prevailed,  the  congregation,  in  order  to  show 
that  they  did  not  attribute  anything  supernatural  to  the  bread 
and  wine  in  the  sacrament,  received  it  standing  or  sitting, 
instead  of  kneeling.  Laud  gave  orders  that  this  custom  should 
be  abolished.  His  Vicar-General  writes  from  Ipswich,  that 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  221 

he  has  "  suspended  one  Mr  Cave,  a  precise  minister  of  St 
Helen's,  for  giving  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  to  non- 
kneelants."  1  Again  from  Northampton  : — "  Mr  Ball,  the 
chief  minister  of  the  town,  was  accused  to  have  given  the 
sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  to  non-kneelants."  •  Once  more 
from  Coventry  : — "  I  suspended  one  Mr  Moore,  minister  of 
Franktcn,  for  administering  the  holy  communion  to  non- 
kneelants."  :!  "  One  Goodwin,"  he  writes,  "  saith  that  to  kneel 
at  the  receiving  of  the  communion  is  idolatry." 4  Of  this 
gentleman  he  has  "taken  order." 

A  petition  was  presented  to  Laud's  Vicar-General  by  the 
rector  of  St  Mary  Bothaw,  stating  that  the  Lord  Mayor, 
some  fifty  years  earlier,  had  erected  certain  rows  of  seats 
whereby  he  had  "  so  streightened  the  place  that  they  have 
left  no  convenient  room  for  placing  forms  for  the  more  ready 
administration  of  the  holy  communion,  so  that  the  communi 
cants  receiving  in  the  seats,  where  their  boards  to  kneel 
against  are  set  so  shelving  that  they  must  of  necessity  rest 
upon  their  seats,  it  cannot  well  be  discerned  who  kneel 
according  to  order  or  who  do  not."  5  On  the  other  hand, 
at  Boston,  it  was  proved  that  the  congregation  were  "  con 
formable,"  and  that  "  many  for  want  of  room  to  kneel  were 
forced  to  stand  or  sit  at  the  receiving"  of  the  communion; 
but  "  if  any  of  defendants  have  received  otherwise  than 
kneeling  it  was  from  no  dislike  of  that  gesture."0 

The  crime,  as  Laud  considered  it,  of  non-kneeling  was  not 
confined  to  the  lower  classes.  "  Sir  Henry  Vane  also,"  writes 
Garrard  to  Lord  Conway,7  "  hath  as  good  as  lost  his  eldest 
son,  who  is  gone  into  New  England  for  conscience'  sake  ;  he 
liked  not  the  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  none  of 
our  ministers  would  give  him  the  sacrament  standing  ;  no 
persuasions  of  our  bishops  nor  authority  of  his  parents  could 
prevail  with  him." 

Stern  as  was  Laud  in  enforcing  his  ecclesiastical  injunc 
tions,  not  a  few  clergymen  dared  to  set  them  at  defiance. 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1635,  p.  xxxii.  *  Ib^  p    35 

3  /£.,  p.  xxxix.  4  /&.,  p.  xxxviii.  5  /<£.,  1634-5,  p.  327. 

«/*.,  p.  422.  7  //>.,  p.  385. 


222  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [SSi634' 

For  example,  in  May  1634,  a  presentment  to  him  was  made 
against  their  minister,  by  the  churchwardens  and  sidesmen  of 
the  parish  of  Holy  Trinity,  Shaftesbury,  for  various  irregu 
larities  in  the  conduct  of  divine  service,  and  for  preaching 
against  the  Book  of  Sports,  "  in  a  most  high  kind  of '  terrifi- 
cation,'  as  if  it  were  a  most  dreadful  thing,  and  near  damn 
able  ;  if  not  absolute  damnation,  to  use  any  recreations  on 
the  Sabbath  or  Lord's  day."  l 

Nor  did  the  laity  show  much  inclination  to  please  Laud  by 
subscribing  to  his  pet  object,  the  repair  of  St  Paul's.  A  cor 
respondent,  at  Little  Horsley,  near  Colchester,  writes  to  Laud,2 
that  it  grieves  his  "  spirit  to  see  how  dull  and  backward  his 
neighbours  near  Colchester  are  in  aiding  the  repair  of  St 
Paul's.  A  great  parish  near  him  very  lately  gave  6d.,  and 
some  nothing  at  all,  and  the  best  gave  not  so  much  as  was 
spent  in  persuading  them."  There  is  a  deep  note  of  pathos 
in  the  latter  complaint !  A  certain  Mr  Ball,  he  says,  '  did 
much  hinder  the  service  at  the  beginning,"  when  a  collection 
for  St  Paul's  was  being  made.  "  Not  so  few  as  100  were 
present  straining  courtesy  who  should  make  a  beginning"  by 
tendering  a  donation,  when  "  '  Marry,'  said  Ball,  '  that  will 
I  !'  and  in  a  scornful  posture  threw  I2d.  upon  the  board,  he 
being  a  great  rich  man.  This  was  a  pattern  for  the  most 
there  present,  that  do  not  hold  it  good  manners  to  exceed  their 
betters."  And  then  the  writer  throws  out  the  following  sig 
nificant  hint : — "Although  this  will  not  be  cause  to  question 
Ball ;  yet  he  to  enlarge  his  court  and  garden  with  a  part  of 
the  churchyard  will  be  worthy  of  an  inquisition."  He  ends 
by  saying  that  his  only  object  in  writing  is  to  further  "our 
loving  lovely  King's  desire." 

Others  went  further  and  roundly  abused  the  archbishop. 
A  Mr  Parsons  spoke  of  Laud  as  "  that  unsanctified  rascal  the 
Bishop  of  Canterbury."3  One,  Lodowick  Bowyer,  who  had 
"slandered  Laud,"  was  condemned,  in  the  Star  Chamber,  by 
Lord  Cottington,  in  a  sentence  thus  summarised4: — "^3000 
fine,  stand  pillory  here,  in  the  palace,  with  a  paper ;  stand  in 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1634-5,  p.  2.  - 16. t  p.  252. 

3  Jb.t  1633-4,  p.  467.  4  /£.,  p.  287. 


gn/634']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  223 

Cheapside  likewise  ;  at  Reading  likewise,  with  his  ears  nailed  ; 
if  he  be  quit  from  the  felony  to  return  to  perpetual  imprison 
ment  in  some  house  of  correction.  To  this  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Richardson  added,  to  be  *  whipt ;  imprisonment  in  Bridewell ; 
burning  in  the  face,  R  or  L.' " 

In  the  year  1634,  an  instrument  attributed  to  Laud  himself, 
but  professedly  "  Charles  R.  Instructions  for  the  most 
Reverend  Father  in  God,  our  right  Trusty,  and  right  entirely 
Beloved  Councillor  William  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
concerning  certain  Orders  to  be  observed  and  put  in  Execu 
tion  by  the  several  Bishops  of  his  Province," *  gave  great 
offence  to  some  of  his  episcopal  brethren.  These  bishops 
had  contracted  a  habit  of  leaving  their  dioceses  to  take  care 
of  themselves  and  living  in  London,  so  as  to  keep  well  in  view 
in  the  hope  of  further  advancement  of  some  kind,  now  that 
Laud  was  putting  clerics  into  various  important  posts  hitherto 
occupied  by  laymen. 

The  first  of  these  instructions  ran  : — "  I.  That  the  Lords 
the  Bishops  respectively  be  commanded  to  their  several  Sees, 
there  to  keep  Residence  ;  excepting  those  who  are  in  necessary 
Attendance  at  our  Court." 

It  would  appear,  also,  that  some  of  them  had  been  en 
deavouring  to  increase  their  incomes  by  cutting  down  timber ; 
for  the  second  instruction  enacts  that  they  are  not  to  "  wast " 
their  "  Woods  where  any  are  left." 

These  "  instructions,"  believed  to  have  been  suggested  to 
the  king  by  Laud,  made  him  several  enemies  on  the  bench  of 
bishops. 

Nor  did  Laud  hesitate  to  scold  a  brother  bishop  well,  on 
occasion.  Thus  he  writes2  to  Goodman,  Bishop  of  Gloucester, 
who  had  written  to  him  asking  for  a  coadjutor,  and  hinting  that 
he  might  perhaps  resign  his  bishopric  if  the  king  would  give 
him  the  livings  which  he  held  before  he  got  it,  or  some  others 
equally  good: — "first,  concerning  a  coadjutor,  his  Majesty 
thinks  "  "  that  it  is  a  very  unadvised  notion."  As  to  his  in 
tention  "  to  petition  his  Majesty  that  he  may  resign  his 

1  "Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  520. 
2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dora.,"  1634-5,  p.  208. 


224  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [g^1.634' 

bishopric  ;"  "  to  this  the  King  commanded  the  Archbishop  to 
give  answer :  That  he  should  be  very  well  advised  what  he 
did,  for  if  Goodman  tendered  his  Majesty  a  resignation  he 
would  accept  it "  ;  but  he  makes  it  very  evident  that,  in  that 
case,  he  must  not  expect  to  get  a  rich  living  instead  of  it. 
Laud  "  will  tell  him  plainly,  that  he  is  very  ill  advised  to 
think  of  resigning  his  bishopric."  "And  since  Bishop  Good 
man  knows  that  resigning  his  bishopric  will  not  put  off  the 
Bishop,  it  will  be  a  fine  contemptible  thing  for  him,  in  a 
settled  church  as  this  is,  to  bring  himself  and  his  calling 
into  such  scorn.  Therefore,  once  again  the  Archbishop  prays 
him  to  think  no  more  of  his  resignations  ;  but  if  he  will  need 
do  himself  that  wrong,  the  Archbishop  prays  Goodman  to 
trouble  him  no  more  with  it." 

It  may  be  interesting,  considering  the  present  popularity 
of  the  Oratorians  in  England,  to  remember  that,  shortly  after 
the  year  of  which  I  am  writing,  an  Oratorian  Father  was  sent 
from  Rome  to  inquire  into  the  state  of  affairs  in  England  ; 
but  "  on  no  pretext  whatever  to  allow  himself  to  be 
drawn  into  communication  with  the  new  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury." 1 

Laud's  favour  at  court  was  no  longer  limited  to  the  king. 
'' Aug.  30,"  he  writes  in  his  Diary,2  in  1634,  "Saturday,  At 
Oatlands  the  Queen  sent  for  me,  and  gave  me  thanks  for  a 
Business,  with  which  she  trusted  me  ;  her  Promise  then,  that 
she  would  be  my  Friend,  and  that  I  should  have  immediate 
address  to  her,  when  I  had  Occasion."  Possibly  the  queen 
may  still  have  cherished  hopes  of  inducing  Laud  to  become  a 
Catholic  :  if  she  did,  they  were  vain  ;  far  from  inclining  more 
and  more  towards  the  Catholic  Church,  he  was  becoming 
more  and  more  ambitious  and  hopeful  for  the  welfare  and 
extension  of  the  Established  Church  of  England. 

Heylin,  in  writing  of  the  year  1634,  says3 : — "  It  was  now 
hoped  there  would  be  a  Church  of  England  in  all  Courts  of 
Christendom,  in  the  chief  cities  of  the  Turk,  and  other  great 
Mahometan  Princes,  and  in  all  our  Factories  and  Plantations 

1  Barberini's  Despatch  of  I3th  March  1635.  2  P.  50. 

3"Cyp.  Angl.,"p.  260. 


Irtca6i634]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  225 

in  every  known  part  of  the  world,  by  which  it  might  be 
rendered  as  diffused  and  Catholick  as  the  Church  of  Rome." 

The  Church  of  England  made  Catholic,  and  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  its  Pope  !  Such  may  have  been  a  day-dream 
of  Laud's. 

Yet  his  wildest  imagination  could  scarcely  have  realized 
the  number  of  Anglican  churches  which  now  exist,  not  only 
in  most  of  the  countries  known  in  his  own  time,  but  also  in 
many  since  discovered.  Certainly  the  Church  of  England 
has  been  "  diffused "  :  would  to  God  that  it  had  also  been 
rendered  "  Catholick." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

LAUD  and  Wentworth  were  in  constant  correspondence  about 
ecclesiastical  and  other  matters  in  Ireland.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  they  had  a  secret  cipher,  and  various  attempts  have  been 
made  to  explain  it ;  but  it  has  never  been  satisfactorily 
interpreted,  and  the  chief  difficulty  in  reading  their  letters 
is  to  determine  when  they  are  written  in  cipher  and  when 
otherwise. 

Sometimes  there  can  be  no  question  about  the  use  of 
cipher ;  as,  for  instance,  when  Laud  writes  : — "  In  the  next 
place,  you  begin  to  be  merry  with  your  Heifer,  and  I  wonder 
you  have  so  little  pity  as  not  to  let  it  rest  when  I  have 
plowed  with  it "  ;  in  other  places  it  is  more  doubtful. 

Laud  is  disgusted  with  the  condition  of  Church  matters 
in  Ireland.  One  of  the  archbishops  had  no  communion 
table  whatever  in  his  chapel.  "  And  truly,"  writes  Laud  to 
Wentworth,  "  I  would  wonder  that  a  chapel  should  have 
never  a  communion  table  in  it,  save  that  I  knew  some 
divines  are  of  opinion,  that  nothing  belonging  to  the  Sacra 
ment  is  aught  extra  usuin,  and  do  therefore  set  the  table  aside 
in  any  corner  (good  enough  for  it)  save  only  at  the  time  of 
administration."  1 

So  angry  was  he  with  the  Irish  bishops,  that  he  tells  Went 
worth  to  "  warn  them,"  to  "  trounce  "  them,  and  to  "  give  my 
Lord  of  Cashell  a  little  of  his  Irish  physic." 

And  truly  there  were  some  abuses  which  might  well  worry 
him.  Bramhall  writes  to  him2  that  he  finds  one  parochial 
church  converted  into  a  stable,  another  into  a  nobleman's 
dwelling-house,  the  choir  of  a  third  into  a  tennis-court,  while 
the  vaults  under  the  principal  church  in  Ireland  are  con- 

1  "  Lib.  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  vol.  vi.  part  i.  p.  551. 

2  See  Baine's  "  Life  of  Laud,"  pp.  155-6. 
226 


34.-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  227 

verted  into  "  tippling  rooms  for  beer,  wine,  and  tobacco,"  and 
"  so  much  frequented  in  time  of  divine  service,  that  though 
there  is  no  danger  of  blowing  up  the  assembly  above  their 
heads,  yet  there  is  danger  of  poisoning  them  with  the  fumes." 
He  also  says  that,  in  the  same  cathedral,  "  the  table  used 
for  the  administration  of  the  blessed  sacrament  in  the  midst 
of  the  choir,"  is  "  made  an  ordinary  seat  for  maids  and 
apprentices." 

In  doctrine,  also,  Laud  attacked  the  Irish  bishops  and 
clergy.  He  imposed  the  thirty-nine  articles  upon  them, 
much  against  their  will.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  these 
same  Articles  of  Religion,  which  the  modern  ritualist  clergy 
speak  of  as  "  forty  stripes  save  one,"  should  have  been 
objected  to  as  intensely  Popish  by  the  Irish  clergy. 

"  Property  worth  £30,000  a  year  was  actually  refunded  to 
the  Church  in  Ireland  under  Stafford's  administration." x 
It  had  been  quite  a  common  thing  for  a  dignitary  to  hold 
half  a  dozen  or  more  preferments,  and  one  bishop  had  leased 
his  palace  to  his  son  for  fifty  years.2 

The  correspondence  between  the  English  Archbishop  and 
the  Lord  Deputy  in  Ireland  is  not  limited  to  ecclesiastical 
and  political  affairs.  Laud  asks  Wentworth  to  get  him  a 
gown  lined  with  the  skins  of  pine-martens,  which  were  then 
common  in  Ireland,  and  tells  him  confidentially  that  he  has 
saved  £13,000  in  nine  years.  His  income  was  now  £6000 
a  year.3  Occasionally  he  tries  to  say  something  funny  in 
his  letters,  and  fails  lamentably  in  so  doing.  "  You 
think,"  he  writes,  "  to  stop  my  mouth  with  some  of  your 
hung  beef  out  of  Yorkshire ;  which  to  your  skill  and  com 
mendation  be  it  spoken,  was  the  worst  I  ever  tasted,  and  as 
hard  as  the  very  horn  the  old  Runt  wore  when  she  lived. 
But  I  wonder  you  do  not  think  of  providing  or  drying 
some  of  your  Irish  venison,  and  send  that  over  to  bray 
too.  Well,  there's  enough  of  this  stuff."  And,  of  a  truth, 
there  is  ! 

In  one  letter,  Laud  gently  remonstrates  with  Went 
worth  for  having  married  his  third  wife,  and  makes  a  poor 

1  Benson,  p.  64.  2  Ib.  3  P.  66. 


228  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

joke  about  his  having  himself  taken  in  marriage  official 
drudgery. 

Wentworth  was  fond  of  writing  about  his  children.  "  Nan, 
they  tell  me,  danceth  prettily.  Arabella  is  a  small  prac 
titioner  that  way  also,  and  they  are  both  very  apt  to  learn 
that  or  anything  that  they  are  taught.  Their  brother  is 
just  now  sitting  at  my  elbow,  in  good  health,  God  be 
praised."  In  a  letter  to  Laud,  from  Dublin  Castle,  he  writes  : 
— "  In  good  earnest,  I  should  wax  exceedingly  melancholy 
were  it  not  for  two  little  girls  that  come  now  and  then  to  play 
with  me." 

In  their  rule  of  Ireland,  it  is  probable  that  neither  Went 
worth  nor  Laud  fully  realised  the  troubles  which  they  were 
laying  up  for  themselves,  or  that  in  a  very  few  years  a  com 
mittee  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  would  print  and  publish 
a ."  Declaration  against  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland"  containing  such  words  as  these  :— 
"  That  as  they  did  reserve  those  of  their  Own  Country  who 
had  been  Incendiaries  between  the  two  Kingdoms,  to  be 
proceeded  against  in  their  Own  Parliament,  so  they  desired 
no  other  Justice  to  be  done  against  these  Two  criminal  Per 
sons  but  what  should  seem  good  to  the  Wisdom  of  the 
Parliament."  x 

WThen  Laud  was  being  tried  for  high  treason,  he  was 
accused  of  "procuring  from  the  King  such  Impropriations  in 
Ireland,  as  were  in  the  King's  Power,  to  the  Church  of  Ire 
land"  In  his  defence,  he  says  of  this  : — "Which  Mr  Nicolas 
(in  his  gentle  Language)  calls  '  Robbing  the  Crown.'  My 
Lords,  the  Case  was  this.  The  Lord  Primate  of  Armagh  writ 
unto  me,  how  ill  Conditioned  the  State  of  that  Church  was 
for  want  of  Means,  and  besought  me  that  I  would  move  his 
Majesty  to  give  the  Impropriations  there,  which  yet  remained 
in  the  Crown,  for  the  Maintenance  and  Incouragement  of 
able  Ministers  to  Live  among  the  People,  and  Instruct  them. 
Assuring  me,  they  were  daily  one  by  one  begged  away  by 
Private  Men,  to  the  great  prejudice  both  of  Crown  and 
Church.  .  .  .  And  after  long  deliberation,  the  King  was 

1  Clarendon's  "Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  i.  p.  190. 


%rtca6;634]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  229 

pleased,  at  my  humble  Suit,  to  grant  them  in  the  way  which 
I  proposed.  .  .  .  And,  my  Lords,  the  increase  of  Popery  is 
complained  of  in  Ireland.  Is  there  a  better  way  to  hinder 
this  growth,  than  to  place  an  Able  Clergy  among  the  Inhabi 
tants  ?  Can  an  Able  Clergy  be  had  without  Means  ?  Is  any 
Means  better  than  Impropriations  restored  ?  My  Lords,  I 
did  this,  as  holding  it  the  best  Means  to  keep  down  Popery, 
and  to  advance  the  Protestant  Religion.  And  I  wish  with  all 
my  Heart,  I  had  been  able  to  do  it  sooner,  before  so  many 
Impropriations  were  gotten  from  the  Crown  into  Private 
Hands." 

If  Laud  was  stern  in  reducing  the  Irish  clergy  to  obedience 
to  his  orders  as  to  doctrine  and  ritual,  he  did  the  best  he 
could  for  them  in  the  matter  of  emolument. 

I  will  now  recount  an  incident  in  his  own  country,  to  show 
how  the  king  and  the  Church  (as  by  law  established)  were 
ever  the  objects  dearest  to  his  heart.  It  entailed  the  petition 
of  a  royalist  peer  against  a  parliamentary  squire,  and  an 
addition  and  improvement  to  a  church,  and  therefore  at  once 
obtained  his  sympathy.  I  shall  enter  somewhat  fully  into  the 
matter,  as  it  is  characteristic  of  Church  disputes  in  the  time 
of  Laud,  and  it  shows  both  that  ecclesiastical  litigation  was 
carried  on  with  bitter  energy,  and  that  appealing  from  one 
court  to  another  in  such  cases  is  no  new  thing.  In  writing  a  life 
of  so  energetic  an  archbishop  as  Laud,  one  is  tempted  to  quote 
many  cases  of  this  kind  to  illustrate  the  spirit  and  to  show 
the  condition  of  Church  law  in  his  time,  and  I  shall  dwell  the 
longer  on  this  particular  instance,  because  I  have  determined 
that  it  shall  be  the  only  one  which  I  shall  notice  at  any  length. 
It  is  also  important  from  having  been  made  the  foundation  of 
one  of  the  charges  against  Laud  at  his  trial  for  high  treason. 

In  a  northern  corner  of  Shropshire  lived  two  families — 
great  families !  as  all  Shropshire  families  always  are  and 
always  were — the  Corbets  and  the  Needhams.  They  were 
very  near  neighbours  and  fiercely  jealous  of  each  other.  At 
last  they  came  to  an  open  rupture  about  a  little  piece  of  land 
of  the  annual  value  of  twelve  shillings  and  sixpence.  Now 
the  parish  church  (Addcrley  church)  was  in  the  patronage  of 


230  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid. 

the  Corbets,  and  the  Needhams  could  not  endure  to  pray  in 
the  nave,  while  their  bitter  enemy,  the  patron,  was  praying  in 
the  exalted  atmosphere  of  the  chancel.  On  one  side  of  this 
chancel  was  a  pew  for  the  patron  ;  on  the  other  was  one  for 
the  rector.  Perceiving  how  strained  were  the  relations  be 
tween  the  two  great  men  in  his  parish,  the  well-meaning 
rector  made  the  excuse  of  being  a  bachelor  and  requiring  no 
pew,  to  place  his  own  in  the  chancel  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Needhams  ;  so  for  a  time  there  was  an  armed  neutrality. 

On  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  Sir  Robert  Needham  was 
made  a  peer,  as  Viscount  Kilmorey,  which  increased  the 
jealousy  of  Sir  John  Corbet.  Worse  still,  the  rector 
married,  and  although  his  wife  allowed  the  Kilmoreys  to 
continue  to  sit  in  her  pew,  they  disliked  being  there 
simply  as  her  guests.  Lord  Kilmorey  then  went  to  his 
bishop  and  asked  his  permission  to  rebuild  his  own  private 
and  domestic  chapel,  which  had  fallen  into  ruin.  This  was 
close  to  his  own  house,  and  he  desired  to  be  allowed  to  have 
service  there  instead  of  attending  the  parish  church.  The 
bishop  was  advised  by  counsel  that  the  leave  of  the  patron 
and  the  incumbent  of  the  parish  would  be  necessary  to  do 
this.  Failing  such  leave,  the  bishop  suggested  that  a  pro 
clamation  should  be  made  in  the  church  to  the  effect  that  the 
chapel  would  be  re-built,  promising  to  grant  a  license  unless 
an  objection  should  be  lodged.  The  proclamation  was  duly 
read,  no  objection  was  lodged,  the  license  was  granted,  the 
private  chapel  was  built,  and,  in  1629,  it  was  consecrated 
by  the  bishop. 

Eight  months  later,  Sir  John  Corbet  instituted  a  suit  in  the 
Court  of  Arches,  on  the  ground  that  the  rights  of  the  parish 
church  had  been  infringed,  and  a  year  later,  the  Dean  of 
Arches  annulled  the  consecration  "  in  its  plenary  sense,"  but 
declared  "the  chapel  to  have  been  duly  and  validly  conse 
crated  '  for  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  for  Divine 
prayer,  for  preaching  the  Word  of  God  therein  purely  and 
sincerely ; '  and,  in  that  limited  sense,  he  pronounced  it 
valid."1 

1  "  History  of  Shavington,"  p.  39. 


gca62'635-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  231 

To  all  intents  and  purposes,  this  was  a  victory  for  Lord 
Kilmorey ;  nevertheless,  he  deeply  resented  the  decision, 
and  at  once  gave  notice  of  appeal.  Shortly  afterwards,  he 
died  ;  but  the  quarrel  was  carried  on  quite  as  fiercely  by  his 
son,  the  new  Lord  Kilmorey. 

In  due  time  a  commission  was  appointed  to  hear  the 
appeal.  The  commissioners  met  in  a  neighbouring  parish 
church,  and  reversed  the  decision  of  the  Court  of  Arches, 
declaring  the  consecration  of  the  chapel  valid  in  all  respects. 

The  viscount,  therefore,  triumphed  ;  but  Sir  John  Corbet 
had  another  card  to  play.  One  of  his  footmen  died  (an  Irish 
footman),  and  he  persuaded  the  rector  to  let  him  bury  him  in 
the  chancel,  "  in  a  shroud,  and  not  coffined,"  about  four  feet 
above  the  place  where  the  body  of  the  late  Lord  Kilmorey 
lay. 

The  living  Lord  Kilmorey  was  furious.  He  took  counsel's 
opinion,  asking  what  remedy  he  could  have ;  whether  he 
should  apply  to  the  Earl-Marshal's  Court,  or  to  the  High 
Commissioners,  or  to  the  delegates  in  the  appeal  in  the  Court 
of  Arches,  or  to  the  Star  Chamber. 

The  counsel  consulted  sent  a  long  reply,  ending  with  this 
very  remarkable  P.S.,  "  Sir  John  Lambe  is  yesterday  made 
judge  of  the  Arches  soe  as  if  you  have  any  interest  in  him  he 
may  doe  yor  honor  better  rights." 

Lord  Kilmorey,  however,  appealed  to  the  Earl-Marshal, 
with  whom  he  apparently  had  some  "  interest "  ;  as  he  signs 
himself  "  Your  Lordps  very  affecconate  frend."  The  Earl- 
Marshal  ordered  Sir  John  Corbet  to  dig  up  and  remove  the 
bones  of  his  footman,  and  he  also  wrote  to  the  bishop  about 
Lord  Kilmorey  and  Sir  John  Corbet,  exhorting  him  "to 
endeavoure  to  reconcile  them  in  love  and  friendshipp." 

Lord  Kilmorey  had  now  got  everything  his  own  way  ;  yet 
he  sighed  for  fresh  victories,  and,  not  content  with  his  private 
chapel,  wanted  to  build  an  aisle  or  transept  for  himself  in  the 
parish  church.  Once  again  he  asked  counsel's  opinion,  writ 
ing  to  Noy,  the  Attorney-General,  who  replied  : — "  No  man 
of  the  pish  of  what  condcon  soer  may  buyld  an  Isle  or  demo- 
lysh  pt  of  ye  church  for  ye  purpose  without  consent  of  the 


232  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [£rt?62l635' 

byshop  and  the  patron  and  the  incumbent,  and  also  of  the 
pshioners." 

Not  long  afterwards,  fortune  favoured  Lord  Kilmorey. 
Sir  John  Corbet,  it  was  said  at  Laud's  instigation,  was  im 
prisoned  in  the  Fleet  for  joining  in  the  famous  Petition 
of  Rights  which  he  had  read  at  the  sessions  in  his  own 
county. 

Lord  Kilmorey  took  this  opportunity  of  appealing  direct 
to  the  king,  diplomatically  ending  his  letter  with  the  words, 
if  the  lords  grace  of  Canterbury  your  worthy  metropolitan 
(upon  reference  to  him)  shall  think  fit." 

Mr  Harrod,  in  his  History  of  Shavington}  says : — "  The 
concluding  reference  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (Laud) 
makes  it  probable  that  this  petition  was  prepared  in  view  of 
the  metropolitan  visitation  of  the  Archbishop,  which  was 
made  in  1634-5.  At  all  events,  the  Viscount  then  ap 
proached  the  Archbishop  on  the  subject.  Laud  was  the 
very  man  for  the  work.  He  would  have  no  nice  scruples 
about  the  legal  rights  of  patrons,  and  would  highly  approve 
of  the  addition  to  the  parish  Church  of  a  suitable  family 
chantry." 

In  1635,  Laud  gave  Lord  Kilmorey  the  license  he  desired 
for  the  erection  of  the  aisle,  in  a  long  document,2  beginning  : — 
"  GULIELMUS  provider!  dio  Cant  archiepus  totius  Anglise 
primas  et  metroponus  ad  quern  ommnis  et  omfnoda,  &c." 

Sir  John  Corbet  was  safe  in  prison,  and  could  not,  there 
fore,  appear  to  object  to  the  building  of  the  transept,  as 
patron  of  the  living. 

The  transept,  or  chapel,  which  is  a  striking  feature  of  Adder- 
ley  church,  was  duly  erected  and  was  ready  for  use  in  1637, 
when  Lord  Kilmorey  wrote  to  the  "  principall  secretary  to  the 
Reverend  ffather  in  God  the  Lord  Archbishope  of  Canter 
bury,"  saying  that  he  had  taken  "a  little  more  in  bredthe 
and  a  greate  deale  less  in  length  than "  was  allowed  him, 
and  asking  Laud's  leave  to  have  it  consecrated. 

In  reply,  came  a  still  longer  document  from  GULIELMUS  ; 
the  transept  was  consecrated,  and  it  was  occupied  by  Lord 

1  P.  5%'  2  "Muniments  of  Shavington,"  §  viii.  v.  551. 


it?641637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  233 

Kilmorey  for  four  or  five  years  in  peace.  There  were,  none 
the  less,  troubles  ahead. 

Sir  John  Corbet  became  a  Member  of  Parliament,  and 
during  his  absence  in  London,  his  wife,  who  had  neither 
forgotten  the  quarrel  nor  forgiven  the  enemy  who  had  got 
the  best  of  her  husband,  took  the  law  into  her  own  hands. 
The  parliamentary  party  were  now  getting  into  power,  and 
royalists  like  Lord  Kilmorey  were  considered  fair  game.  On 
the  6th  of  March  1642,  she  had  the  courage  to  enter  Lord 
Kilmorey's  transept,  with  her  family  and  servants,  and  occupy 
his  seats  throughout  the  service.  Fortunately,  the  Kilmoreys 
had  a  service  that  morning  in  their  private  chapel  at  home, 
so  no  harm  came  of  it. 

On  the  3<Dth  of  the  same  month,  however,  there  was  a  day 
of  General  Humiliation,  and  Lord  Kilmorey,  after  the  service 
in  his  own  private  chapel,  went  to  the  afternoon  service  at  his 
parish  church.  On  going  to  his  transept,  he  found  four  of 
Sir  John  Corbet's  servants  sitting  in  it.1  "  The  service  was 
proceeding,  and  a  Psalm  was  being  sung,  so  Lord  Kilmorey 
entered  the  chapel  and  quietly  told  the  men  to  leave.  They 
made  no  reply,  nor  would  they  move  from  their  position, 
and  Lord  Kilmorey,  who  no  doubt  thought  it  well  to  be 
well  attended,  sent  in  some  of  his  people,  with  orders  to 
remove  the  men  as  quietly  as  possible.  As  they  were  armed, 
and  made  a  desperate  resistance,  this  was  impossible,  and  a 
terrible  melee  ensued,  but  eventually  the  men  were,  with  great 
difficulty,  dislodged,  and  the  Kilmoreys  occupied  the  pew  to 
the  close  of  the  service." 

Nor  was  this  the  only  battle.  "  On  the  8th  May,  being 
Sunday,  about  twenty  men,  armed  with  swords  and  staves, 
took  possession  of  the  chapel  and  approaches,  and  kept  out 
the  servants  sent  by  Lord  Kilmorey  to  take  possession. 
They  remained  there  until  Lady  Corbet  came,  who,  with  her 
family,  seated  herself  in  the  chapel.  The  residue  of  the 
servants  placed  themselves  in  the  passage  between  the 
church  and  the  chapel,  and  kept  out  Lord  Kilmorey's  ser 
vants.  In  the  afternoon,  Lady  Corbet  came  again,  with  at 

1  "  History  of  Shavington,"  p.  70. 


234  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [!rt?69l642' 

least  forty  men,  all  armed,  and  kept  out  Lord  Kilmorey's 
servants  from  the  chapel  and  from  their  seats  in  the  body  of 
the  church." l 

Lord  Kilmorey  then  drew  up  a  petition  and  sent  it  to 
Laud,  begging  him  to  assist  him  in  recovering  possession  of 
his  chapel.  Laud,  however,  was  then  in  the  Tower ;  Sir 
John  Corbet,  as  a  Member  of  Parliament,  was  a  privileged  per 
son,  and,  some  four  years  later,  the  estates  of  Lord  Kilmorey, 
who  was  an  ardent  royalist,  were  sequestrated. 

As  I  said  at  starting,  there  is  something  more  to  be  considered 
in  this  case  with  regard  to  Laud.  It  concerns  accusations 
which  were  brought  against  him,  at  his  trial  for  high  treason. 
The  charge  ran  thus  2 : — "  That  the  said  Arch-Bishop  about 
Eight  Years  last  Past,  being  then  also  a  Privy-Counsellor  to 
his  Majesty,  for  the  End  and  Purpose  aforesaid,  caused  Sir 
John  Corbet  of  Stoake  in  the  County  of  Salop  Baronet,  then 
a  Justice  of  Peace  of  the  said  County,  to  be  committed  to  the 
Prison  of  the  Fleet,  where  he  continued  a  Prisoner  for  the 
space  of  half  a  year  or  more  ;  for  no  other  Cause  but  for  call 
ing  for  the  Petition  of  Right,  and  causing  it  to  be  Read  at 
the  Sessions  of  the  Peace  for  that  County,  upon  a  just  and 
necessary  Occasion.  And  during  the  Time  of  his  said  Im 
prisonment,  the  said  Arch-Bishop,  without  any  Colour  of 
Right,  by  a  Writing  under  the  Seal  of  his  Arch-Bishoprick, 
granted  away  Parcel  of  the  Glebe-Land  of  the  Church  of 
Adderley  in  the  said  County,  whereof  the  said  Sir  Jo.  Corbet 
was  then  Patron,  unto  Robert  Viscount  Kilmurry,  without  the 
consent  of  the  said  Sir  John,  or  the  then  Incumbent  of  the 
said  Church  ;  which  said  Viscount  Kilmurry,  Built  a  Chappel 
upon  the  said  Parcel  of  Glebe-Land,  to  the  great  prejudice  of 
the  said  Sir  John  Corbet,  which  hath  caused  great  Suits  and 
Dissentions  between  them." 

In  his  defence,  Laud  made  the  following  reply  to  these 
charges  3 : — "  Sir  John  says,  he  was  sent  for  about  Reading  the 
Petition  of  Right,  at  a  Session,  in  the  Country,  and  that  the 
Earl  of  Bridgwater  should  say,  he  was  disaffected  to  the  King. 

1  "History  of  Shavington,"  and  "  Muniments  of  Shavington,"  §  viii.  v.  555-7- 

2  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  242.  s  lb.,  p.  251. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  235 

This  concerns  me  not  in  any  thing.  He  says,  That  for  this 
Jie  was  Committed^  lay  long  in  the  Fleet,  and  was  denied  Bail: 
But  he  says  it  was  denyed  by  the  whole  Board.  So  by  his 
own  Confession,  this  was  the  Act  of  the  Council,  not  mine." 

"  For  the  He  built  by  the  Lord  Viscount  Kilmurrye,  the 
Grant  which  I  made  was  no  more,  than  is  ordinary  in  all  such 
Cases  ...  so  there  is  nothing  at  all  done  to  the  prejudice 
of  Sir  Johns  Inheritance  :  For  if  we  cannot  Grant  it  by 
Law,  then  the  Grant  is  voided  by  its  own  words."  These 
words  were  "  Quantum  in  nobis  est,  et  de  Jure  possumus" 
"  And  whereas  'tis  alledged,  That  I  made  this  Grant  without 
the  consent  of"  "the  Patron,  or  tJie  then  Incumbent;  Sir 
Jo/in  acknowledges,  like  a  Gentleman,  that  I  sent  unto  him 
for  his  consent,  if  it  might  be  had."  [As  the  consent  was 
evidently  not  given,  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  force  of  this 
plea.]  "  And  this  I  foresaw  also,  that  if  I  had  denyed  the 
Lord  Viscount  that  which  was  not  unusual ;  then  the  Com 
plaint  would  have  fallen  more  heavy  on  the  other  side,  that  I 
made  Persons  of  Quality  in  a  manner  Recusants,  by  denying 
them  that  conveniency  which  was  in  my  power  to  grant.  So 
I  must  be  faulty,  whatever  I  do." 

The  fact  that  Lord  Kilmorey  was  a  royalist  and  that  Sir 
John  Corbet  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  opposite  faction 
is,  of  course,  entirely  ignored  by  Laud. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

I  MUST  now  refer  to  Montague,  whose  antipathy  towards  the 
Church  had  apparently  softened  considerably  since  he  wrote 
his  Appello  Cczsarem.  He  was  now  actually  trying  to  nego 
tiate  a  union  between  Anglicanism  and  Catholicism,  with  Pan- 
zani,  the  envoy  from  Rome.  This  action  on  his  part  would 
not  much  affect  my  memoir,  were  it  not  that  he  is  stated  to 
have  assured  Panzani  "that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
was  entirely  of  his  sentiment,  but  with  a  great  allay  of  fear 
and  caution."  Laud  had  his  faults ;  but  fear  and  caution  are 
not  generally  supposed  to  have  been  the  most  conspicuous. 
My  quotations  are  taken  from  the  Memoirs  of  Gregorio 
Panzani,  translated  from  the  Italian  original,  by  the  Rev. 
oseph  Berington. 

The  interview  with  Panzani  was  of  Montague's  own  seeking.1 
"  When  they  met,  he  "  (Montague)  "  immediately  fell  upon  the 
project  of  an  union."  "  He  signified  a  great  desire,  that  the 
breach  between  the  two  churches  might  be  made  up,  and 
apprehended  no  danger  from  publishing  the  scheme,  as  things 
stood."  Presently  he  said  "that  he  was  satisfied  both  the 
archbishops,  with  the  bishop  of  London  and  several  others  of 
the  episcopal  order,  besides  a  great  number  of  the  learned 
inferior  clergy,  were  prepared  to  fall  in  with  the  Church  of 
Rome  as  to  a  supremacy  purely  spiritual :  That,  for  his  own 
part,  he  knew  no  tenet  of  the  Church  of  Rome  to  which  he 
was  not  willing  to  subscribe,  unless  it  were  the  article  of 
Transubstantiation^  which  word,  he  had  reason  to  think,  was 
invented  by  pope  Innocent  III.,  after  the  council  of  Lateran 
was  risen.  He  owned,  he  had  some  scruples  concerning 
communion  in  one  kind  ;  but  as  for  particular  points,  he 
thought  the  best  method  would  be  to  chuse  moderate  men 

1  "  Panzani  Memoirs,"  pp.  237  and  following. 

236 


CT61635']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  237 

deputies  on  both  sides,  to  draw  up  the  differences  in  as  small 
a  compass  as  they  could,  and  consider  about  them."  He 
then  suggested  that  such  a  committee,  or  congress,  might  be 
most  conveniently  held  in  France. 

"  Panzani  modestly  replied,  that  he  did  not  know  but  his 
Holiness  might  approve  of  the  scheme  he  had  laid,  but  he 
could  say  no  more  to  it  till  the  motion  were  made,  either  by 
the  king,  or  by  some  of  the  chief  of  the  ministry  in  his  name." 

At  parting,  Montague  told  Panzani  that  "  he  would  take  the 
first  opportunity  to  discourse  the  primate,"  Laud,  "  on  'the 
subject ;  but  insinuated  he  was  a  cautious  man,  who  would 
make  no  advances  unless  he  were  well  protected." 

Panzani  reported  this  interview  to  Rome.  "  The  Italians 
were  extremely  pleased  with  it ;  and  it  was  a  subject  of  great 
joy  to  understand  that  several  of  the  Protestant  bishops  and 
clergy  were  ready  to  join  with  the  universal  church  in  the 
article  of  a  spiritual  supremacy."  Panzani  was  ordered  to 
tell  Montague  that  uas  for  looking  into  particular  con 
troversies,  or  specifying  the  terms  of  communion,  it  was  too 
soon  to  speak  of  those  matters.  At  present,  it  would  be 
more  advisable  to  dwell  upon  generals  ;  and  especially  the 
Protestant  bishops  and  clergy  ought  to  examine  the  motives 
which  first  occasioned  the  breach  from  Rome,  which  being 
found  human  and  unwarrantable,  it  would  be  their  duty  to 
come  forward  and  sue  for  a  reconciliation.'' 

"  Above  all  things,  Panzani  was  advised  never  to  favour 
the  discussion  of  particular  points."  "  The  supreme  point  of 
a  supreme  judge  "  must  be  "  first  settled,  for  then  other  matters 
would  come  in  of  course."  "  In  a  word,  authority  and 
doctrinal  points  were  the  two  capital  objects."  In  "  practices 
out  of  the  limits  of  the  jus  divinum,  which  were  disagreeable 
to  the  English  nation,  as  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  church  to 
alter  them,  so  they  should  meet  with  all  the  tenderness 
imaginable." 

On  their  next  meeting,  Panzani  complimented  Montague, 
and  told  him  that  he  was  much  admired  in  Rome  for  the 
steps  he  had  taken.  "  The  bishop,  who  was  not  a  little  vain, 
relished  the  compliment,  and  returned  it,  as  far  as  was  con- 


238  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  fe'635' 

venient,  upon  his  admirers."  It  was  then  that  he  informed 
Panzani  "  that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  entirely  of 
his  sentiment,  but  with  a  great  allay  of  fear  and  caution." 

Panzani  now  observed  that  he  had  orders  not  to  "  give  en 
couragement  that  there  should  be  any  relaxation  on  the 
Catholic  side,  as  to  the  credenda  or  fundamentals  of  religion, 
that  the  union  designed  was  not  only  to  be  politic  and 
ceremonial,  but  real  and  in  unitate  fidei,  without  any  mixture 
of  creeds. — The  bishop  assured  him,  that  he  aimed  at  a  total 
union." 

"  Montague  then  having  occasion  to  mention  his  character 
and  priesthood  said,  he  looked  upon  them  as  unquestionable. 
— Panzani  judging  this  to  be  too  intricate  a  point,  and  know 
ing  what  exceptions  some  learned  men  made  against  it,  would 
not  deliver  his  opinion,  but  passed  to  another  matter." 

The  writer  of  the  Memoirs  then  says  "  it  was  pretty  plain 
that  there  was  a  great  inclination  in  many  of  the  eminent 
Protestant  clergy  to  re-unite  themselves  to  the  see  of  Rome  ;  " 
but  that  there  was  no  united  action  among  them,  and  that 
they  feared  the  king ;  "  for  they  imagined  the  spiritual 
supremacy  was  a  prerogative  he  would  not  easily  part  with." 
It  was  noticed,  at  court,  that  when  Pope  Urban,  or  Cardinal 
Barberini,  was  mentioned,  "he  discovered  an  extraordinary 
affection  for  them;  but  his  praises  running  mostly  upon  their 
personal  qualifications,  and  generous  behaviour  to  the  Eng 
lish  nation,"  they  could  form  no  opinion  as  to  whether  he 
merely  wished  to  keep  on  a  satisfactory  diplomatic  footing 
with  Rome,  or  desired  a  union  with  the  Catholic  Church. 
One  remarkable  piece  of  evidence  is  given,  that  "  Dr  George 
Leyburn  assured  Panzani,  in  verbo  sacerdotis  that  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury  encouraged  the  Duchess  of  Buckingham 
to  remain  contented,  for,  in  a  little  time,  she  would  see  Eng 
land  re-united  to  the  see  of  Rome."  If  this  is  to  be  believed, 
it  is  a  very  important  incident  in  the  life  of  Laud  !  I  do  not 
question  Dr  Leybourn's  word ;  but  may  not  the  Duchess 
have  either  misunderstood  Laud,  or  unconsciously  exagger 
ated  in  repeating  what  he  said  ? 

At  the  next  interview  between  Panzani  and  Montague,  the 


5,  of  Archbishop  Laud.  239 

latter  stated  that  there  were  only  three  Anglican  bishops 
who  "  could  be  counted  violently  bent  against  the  church  of 
Rome,  viz.,  Durham,  Salisbury,  and  Exeter ;  the  rest,  he  said, 
were  very  moderate."  These  three  bishops  were  Morton, 
Davenant,  and  Hall. 

At  this  conference,  Montague  again  referred  to  the  validity 
of  his  own  orders,  maintaining  that  he  derived  them  in  direct 
descent  from  St  Augustin,  the  apostle  of  England,  although 
he  admitted  that  Catholics  "made  little  account  of  Protestant 
ordinations. — Panzani  managed  as  before,  telling  him,  it  was 
a  tedious,  intricate  controversy,  the  particulars  whereof  he 
was  a  stranger  to."  Montague  then  said  he  had  often  heard 
the  king  remark  "  that  there  was  neither  policy,  Christianity, 
nor  good  manners  in  not  keeping  a  correspondence  with 
Rome,"  and  he  expressed  his  own  desire  to  be  selected  for 
that  purpose.  " c  Then/  replied  Panzani,  '  the  world  would 
immediately  conclude,  that  you  were  going  over  to  the 
Church  of  Rome/ — *  And  what  harm  would  there  be  in 
that  ? '  said  the  Anglican  bishop." 

Panzani  next  observed  that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
union  were  very  great ;  whereupon  Montague  "  solemnly  de 
clared,  that  both  he  and  many  of  his  brethren  were  prepared 
to  conform  themselves  to  the  method  and  discipline  of  the 
Gallican  Church,  where  civil  rights  were  well  guarded  ;  '  and 
as  for  the  aversion  we  discover  in  our  sermons  and  printed 
books,  they  are  things  of  form,  chiefly  to  humour  the  popu 
lace,  and  not  to  be  much  regarded.' " 

This  was,  indeed,  a  candid  admission,  especially  in  the 
mouth  of  a  man  who,  in  his  "  printed  books,"  had  accused 
Catholics  of  "cosening  tricks,"  called  the  Catholic  "the 
Roman  exorbitant  Church,"  described  its  miracles,  and 
visions  as  "  hobgoblin  stuffe,"  and  stigmatised  its  priests  as 
"  Beelzebub's  attendants."  x  Such  expressions,  it  seems,  were 
mere  "  things  of  form,"  only  "  to  humour  the  populace,  and 
not  to  be  much  regarded." 

Panzani's  Memoirs?  in  addition  to  their  mention  of  the 
fruitless  overtures  of  Montague,  state  that  "  among  those  of 

1  "  A  Gagg  for  the  New  Gospell."  2  P.  248. 


240  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [iS3x.636' 

the  episcopal  order  who  seemed  to  desire  an  union,  none 
appeared  more  zealous  than  Dr  Goodman,  of  Gloucester, 
who  every  day  said  the  priest's  office,  and  observed  several 
other  duties  as  practised  in  the  church  of  Rome."  This 
Anglican  bishop  was  a  forerunner  of  the  many  modern  ritualist 
clergymen  who  have  said  the  divine  office,  or  at  least  a 
portion  of  it. 

Of  the  Anglican  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  I  shall  have  a  good 
deal  to  say,  in  direct  connection  with  Laud,  in  a  later  chapter. 
It  will  be  sufficient,  here,  to  add  that  he  died  a  Catholic.1 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  how  far  there  was  ever  any  real 
support  given  by  the  other  Anglican  bishops  to  Montague's 
proposals  for  union  with  the  Church.  Panzani  received  a 
letter  of  instructions  from  Cardinal  Barberini,  in  which,  after 
referring  to  some  suggestions  of  Windebank,  to  the  effect 2 
"That  the  church  of  Rome  should  give  up  some  of  her 
articles,  viz.,  communion  in  one  kind,  the  celibacy  of  her 
clergy,  &c.,"  he  said  that  such  ideas  "  would  never  please  at 
Rome ;  that  the  English  ought  to  look  back  upon  the  breach 
they  had  made,  and  attend  to  the  motives  that  induced  them 
to  it ;  and  that  the  whole  world  was  against  them  as  to  the 
points  mentioned." 

It  seems  that  Panzani  had  been  accused  of  exceeding 
his  commission,  and  he  replied  that  certain  priests  had 
unfortunately  excited  by  their  action  "  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  against  the  proposal."  How  far  Panzani  managed 
the  matter  to  the  best  advantage  seems  doubtful.  He  was 
not  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  religious  orders,  and  it 
must  be  remembered,  as  it  ought  to  be  candidly  admitted, 
that  the  very  difficult  question  of  the  most  advisable  tem 
porary  ecclesiastical  rule  for  the  Catholics  in  England,  now 
that  the  hierarchy  was  suspended  in  that  country,  had  given 
rise  to  differences  of  opinion  among  good  men,  as  difficult 
questions  are  ever  apt  to  do. 

Lingard,  while  admitting  the  authenticity  of  the  Panzani 

1  Fuller's   "  History  of  the  Church,"  p.    170.     Also  "Memoirs  of  Panzani," 
pp.  248  and  260. 

2  Panzani,  p.  174. 


.]  Life  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  24 1 

Memoirs,  which  he  has  himself  used  to  some  extent,  says l  :— 
"  It  appears  plain  that  Charles  had  no  idea  of  a  re-union 
between  the  churches  ;  and  that,  if  Laud  ever  cherished  such 
a  project,  he  kept  it  to  himself.  Panzani  never  saw  him ;  nor 
is  there  anything  in  the  correspondence  except  the  assertion 
of  Montague,  to  make  it  appear  that  the  archbishop  was 
favourable  to  it." 

Laud's  contemporary,  friend,  and  biographer,  Heylin,2 
deserves  to  be  heard  on  this  matter,  both  as  to  the  time 
when  Panzani  was  in  England  and  also  as  to  that  of  his 
immediate  successor,  who  was  to  carry  on  his  work.  "  The 
Pamphlet  called  The  Pope's  Nuncio,  Printed  in  the  year 
1643,  natn  told  us,  '  That  Panzani  at  his  being  here,  did 
desire  a  conference  with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
but  was  put  off  and  procrastinated  therein  from  day  to 
day;  That  at  the  last  he  departed  the  Kingdom  without 
any  speech  with  him.'  The  like  we  find  in  the  discovery 
of  Andreas  ab  Habernfield,  who  tells  us  of  his  Con"- 
Conn  was  the  legate  who  succeeded  Panzani  in  London — 
"that  finding  the  King's  judgment  to  depend  much  on  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his  faithful  servant,  he  resolved  to 
move  every  stone,  and  bend  all  his  strength  to  gain  him  to 
his  side,  being  confident  he  had  prepared  the  means.  For  he 
had  had  a  command  to  make  offer  of  a  cardinal's  cap  to  the 
Lord  Archbishop  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  " — this  is  a  more 
than  doubtful  assertion — "  and  that  he  should  allure  him  also 
with  higher  promises,  that  he  might  corrupt  his  sincere  mind  ; 
yet  a  fitting  occasion  was  never  offered  whereby  he  might 
insinuate  himself  into  the  Lord  Archbishop,  to  whom  free 
access  was  to  be  impetrated  by  the  Earl  and  Countess  of 
Arundel,"  (in  another  place  Habernfield  calls  this  lady  "a 
strenuous  she-champion  of  the  Popish  religion  "),  "  as  also  by 
Secretary  Windebank,  all  whose  intercessions  he  neglected, 
and  did  shun  (as  it  were  the  plague)  the  company  and 
familiarity  of  Con.  He  was  also  solicited  by  others  of  no 
mean  rank,  well  known  to  him,  and  yet  he  continued  im- 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 

2  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  pp.  385  and  following. 

Q 


242  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

moveable."  "And  whereas,"  says  Heylin,  "some  found  a  way 
to  help  at  last  by  making  Windebank  Internuncio  betwixt  him 
and  them,  that  only  serves  to  make  the  matter  rather  worse 
than  better,  there  being  a  great  strangeness  grown  betwixt 
him  and  Windebank,  not  only  before  Con's  coming  into 
the  Realm  ;  but  before  Panzani  had  settled  any  course  of 
intelligence  in  the  court  of  England." 

Politically,  Charles  endeavoured  to  make  capital  of  the 
civilities  shown  by  Rome  through  Panzani  and  Conn  to 
obtain  the  Pope's  intervention  on  behalf  of  his  nephew, 
the  Palatine ;  and,  on  his  own  part,  he  sent  Sir  William 
Hamilton  to  Rome,  not  only  to  endeavour  to  secure  the 
Holy  Father's  good  offices  on  behalf  of  his  sister's  son,  but 
also  to  persuade  him  to  favour  and  encourage  a  marriage 
between  her  daughter  and  the  King  of  Poland,  as  well  as  to 
induce  him  to  consent  to  the  English  Catholics  taking  the 
oath  of  allegiance,  either  in  its  then  form,  or  in  some  other 
which  would  be  acceptable  to  the  English  Government.  On 
the  other  hand,  Panzani,  to  some  extent,  and,  to  a  greater, 
Conn,  obtained  Charles's  promise  that  the  English  Catholics 
should  be  relieved  from  the  annoyance  of  domiciliary  visits 
from  pursuivants.  If  Charles  vacillated  on  this  point,  we 
may  fairly  hope  that  Laud  may  have  said  a  good  word  for 
his  Catholic  fellow-countrymen ;  for  he  was  certainly  no 
great  lover  of  pursuivants,  as  the  following  extract  from  an 
old  newspaper  *  will  prove. 

A  certain  priest  was  seen  by  a  pursuivant,  named  Bray, 
who  "  went  about  to  apprehend  him,  but  was  abused  by  the 
priest,  who  told  him  he  had  a  protection  from  Sir  Francis 
Windebanke,  of  which  the  said  Bray  going  to  Lambeth  to 
complaine  to  the  Archbishope  of  Canterbury,  he  would  not 
speake  with  him,  but  was  answered  that  he  could  not  attend 
to  such  frivolous  businesses ;  whereupon  the  said  Bray  said,  he 
hoped  to  see  better  dayes.  For  which  the  Archbishop  com 
plained  of  him  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  caused  him  to  be 
imprisoned  fourteen  weeks  ;  and  when  the  said  Mr  Braye's 

1  London's  Intelligencer ;  July  17,  1644.  King's  Pamphlets  (British 
Museum),  No.  167. 


36-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  243 

wife  petitioned  him  for  her  husband's  release,  he  threw  it 
away  and  said  he  would  have  nothing  to  doe  with  such  priest- 
catching  knaves.  And  afterwards  before  the  setting  High 
Commission  Court  openly  threatened  the  other  pursuivants, 
that  if  they  employed  the  said  Gray  " — in  the  course  of  the 
accounts  he  is  called  Gray,  Bray,  and  Braye — "  in  catching 
of  priests,  he  would  not  only  imprison  them,  but  pull  their 
coates  over  their  eares.  It  was  further  alledged  against  him  " 
—this  was  at  Laud's  trial  for  high  treason — "  that  he  had 
discouraged  one  Anne  Hussey,  who  discovered  a  dangerous 
plot  against  the  Kinge  and  kingdome.  The  plot  was  that  a 
Jesuite  declared,  there  were  seven  thousand  in  private  pay  to 
cut  the  throats  of  the  Protestants,  and  that  the  King  should 
be  killed.  He  told  her  that  she  was  mad,  and  hired  by 
Londoners,  and  that  she  should  be  rackt." 

On  this  ground  I  infer  that  when  Charles  yielded  on  the 
question  of  the  pursuivant  to  Panzani  or  Conn,  it  may  have 
been  at  Laud's  advice.  That  very  able  judge,  Lingard,  how 
ever,  on  the  strength  of  a  MS.  abstract  of  Conn's  despatches, 
which  was  in  his  own  possession,  takes  a  different  view.1 
Conn  "  was  able,"  he  says,  "  by  his  remonstrances  on  different 
occasions,  to  check  the  zeal  of  Archbishop  Laud,  who,  through 
anxiety,  as  it  was  reported,  to  shake  off  the  imputation  of 
Popery  cast  upon  him  by  the  Puritans,  sought  to  establish 
the  belief  of  his  orthodoxy  by  the  rigorous  enforcement  of 
the  penal  laws." 

That  Laud  was  not  supposed  in  Rome  to  have  done  much 
to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  Catholics  may  be  gathered  from 
the  sworn  testimony  of  a  witness,  to  the  effect  that  "  the 
Honourable  Sir  Lionel  Tolmach  Baronet,"  related  that  when 
he  was  in  that  city  immediately  after  Laud's  execution,  "  a 
certain  abbot "  had  observed  "  that  the  Greatest  Enemy  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  in  England  was  cut  off,  and  the  Greatest 
CHAMPION  of  the  Church  of  England  silenced  :  Or  in  Words 
to  that  purpose."  John  Evelyn,  who  happened  to  be  in 
Rome  at  the  same  time,  testified  that  he  was  "  in  the  Com 
pany  of  divers  of  the  English  Fathers,"  when  the  news  arrived 

1  "  I  list,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 


244  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [xviithcent. 

of  Laud's  death,  and  that  they  "  looked  upon  him  as 
one  that  was  a  great  Enemy  to  them,  and  stood  in  their 
Way." 

The  papal  legate,  although  he  was  in  England  nominally 
on  a  purely  private  footing,  became  rather  the  fashion.  He 
"  resided  at  London  in  great  Part,"  l  says  Clarendon,  "  pub- 
lickly  visited  the  Court  ;  and  was  avowedly  resorted  to  by 
the  Catholicks  of  all  conditions,  over  whom  he  assum'd  a 
particular  jurisdiction  ;  and  was  caress'd  by  the  Ladies  of 
Honour  who  inclin'd  to  that  Profession." 

Some  direct  communications  certainly  took  place  between 
Father  Preston,  a  Benedictine  Priest,  and  Laud's  chaplain, 
Mr  William  Heywood,  concerning  one  of  the  subjects  of 
negotiation  between  Charles  and  Panzani — the  approbation 
by  Rome  of  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Some  priests  were  of 
opinion  that  it  was  impossible  that  anything  could  be  done 
in  the  matter;  others  thought  something  might,  and  among 
these  was  Father  Preston.  He  writes2  to  the  "  Rev.  and 
much  respected  Sir,"  Laud's  chaplain : — "  The  Italian 
Oratorian  [Panzani]  sent  hither  from  Rome,  signified  to  me 
that  some  had  informed  him  that  I  was  printing  a  book  in 
favour  of  the  Oath,  which  would  hinder  the  fair  course  then 
intended  betwixt  his  Holiness  and  the  King  ;  for  then  he 
made  show  to  procure  of  his  Holiness  some  moderation  or 
moderate  declaration  concerning  the  Oath,  &c."  "  But  now 
I  perceive  that  they  intend  at  Rome  no  such  moderation 
concerning  the  Oath,  and  that  deponibility,  which  is  the  only 
chief  thing  denied  in  the  Oath,  must  not  be  meddled  withal." 
Indeed,  Preston  had  himself  got  into  trouble  by  his  efforts  to 
please  the  king  in  the  matter.  "Our  Procurator  sent  me 
word  that  the  Pope's  nephew  our  protector  told  him  his 
Holiness  and  the  Lords  Cardinal  were  grievously  offended 
with  me."  He  sends  some  of  his  writings  on  the  question 
for  his  correspondent  "to  peruse  with  your  good  leisure," 
and  he  would  willingly  have  them  printed,  "  if  it  may  stand 
with  my  Lord  Graces  "  [Laud's]  "  good  liking,"  and  he  says 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Rebellion,"  vol.  i.  p.  149. 

2  "  Records  of  the  Eng.  Prov.  S.  J.,"  series  I,  pp.  256-7. 


]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  245 

"when  you  have  perused  them,  I  pray  you  acquaint  my 
Lord's  Grace." 

So  long  as  Rome  left  the  question  undecided  officially, 
Preston  stuck  to  his  own  opinion  ;  but  when  it  had  spoken, 
"  he  submitted,  before  being  visited  by  any  express  censure 
or  declaration."1  Gee,  the  informer,  in  his  list  of  priests  says 
that  "  hee  hath  by  one  engine  or  another,  of  late  seduced  great 
multitudes  to  Popery,"  and  the  Jesuit  writer,  Brother  Foley, 
says  there  is  "  every  reason  to  hope  that  he  died  a  martyr  /;/ 
•vinculis  for  the  faith." 

This  would  appear  to  be  the  proper  place  to  notice  the 
interviews  between  Laud  and  a  celebrated  Benedictine  monk. 
A  young  man,  named  John  Jones,  connected  with  the 
Scudamores  of  Kentchurch  in  Herefordshire,  was  an  under 
graduate  with  Laud  at  St  John's,  Oxford,  where  he  became  a 
Catholic.'2  He  afterwards  went  to  Spain,  joined  the  Order  of 
St  Benedict,  and  eventually  returned  to  England,  as  Father 
Leander  of  St  Martin.  My  remarks  about  him  are  chiefly  taken 
from  a  book 3  written  by  Dom.  Bennet  Weldon,  a  Benedictine 
monk,  who  was  born  less  than  thirty  years  after  the  death  of 
Laud.  Father  Leander  was  "skilled  in  all  the  oriental 
languages,"  "  an  accomplished  rhetorician,  poet,  grecian,  and 
latinist."  "  He  rendered  the  Catholic  cause  great  services 
when  upon  the  marriage  of  Charles  I.  with  Henrietta  of 
France  there  appeared  an  aurora  of  England's  conversion,  the 
Queen  being  Catholic  and  attended  with  a  Chapel  splendidly 
served  by  a  great  retinue  of  Priests,  both  Secular  and 
Regular  ;  the  King  inclining  and  the  famous  Dr  Laud,  that 
renowned  protestant  archbishop  of  Canterbury  (the  best  of 
them  who  have  occupied  that  See  since  error  hath  prevailed 
in  England),  steering  his  course  directly  to  the  old  and  only 
Faith,  guided  and  directed  by  his  dear  friend  and  old  intimate 
acquaintance  the  R.  F.  Leander,  to  whom  he  gave  a  College 
in  Kent.  They  had  been  colleagues  together  at  Oxford,  and 
not  only  this  Reverend  Father  was  so  highly  prized  by  Dr 

1  "  Records  of  the  Eng.  Prov.  S.  J.,"  series  I,  p.  258.  2  //*.,  p.  254,  note. 

3  "A  Chronicle  of  the  English  Benedictine  Monks."  Ed.  1881,  pp. 
100-102. 


246  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

"Laud,  but  also  by  others  of  that  heterodox  misery,  so  that 
once  in  those  most  desperate  times  he  had  a  special  Royal 
Grant  or  leave  to  go  into  England.  The  last  time  he  went 
he  was  called  by  the  aforesaid  good  friend  Dr  Laud  who 
wanted  to  confer  with  him  about  some  points  of  controversy. 
But  he  had  not  been  long  in  England  when  he  fell  sick  and 
died  the  2/th  of  December  1635,  &c."  A  modern  Benedictine 
writer,  the  Rev.  Dom.  Edmund  Ford  says1: — "In  1634 
Fr.  Leander  of  St  Martin,  then  president,  came  to  England 
as  the  accredited  agent  of  the  Papal  Court,  to  treat,  among 
other  matters,  with  his  old  college  friend  Laud  about  a 
union  between  the  two  Churches."  Whether  they  ever  actu 
ally  discussed  the  subject  seems  doubtful;  but  Laud  was 
charged  at  his  trial  with  "  holding  correspondence  "  with  "  a 
Benedictine  monke  Father  Leander."  2  For  my  own  part,  I 
cannot  see,  in  any  of  the  evidence  adduced  with  regard  to 
Father  Leander,  proof  of  Laud's  having  entered  into  any 
negotiations  with  a  view  to  a  union  of  the  Anglican  with  the 
Catholic  Church.  Father  Leander  may  have  hoped  to  discuss 
the  question  of  the  reconciliation  of  the  English  with  him  ; 
possibly  Laud  may  have  even  consented  to  talk  the  matter 
over  with  him,  as  an  old  college  friend  ;  but  I  do  not  think 
that  more  than  this  can  be  made  of  the  facts  that  I  have  been 
able  to  collect. 

In  discussing  the  subject  of  these  attempts  at  an  union  of 
the  Anglican  with  the  Catholic  Church,  it  may  be  well  to 
consider  the  probable  cause  of  their  failure.  Panzani  attri 
buted  it  chiefly  to  the  absence  of  any  concerted  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Anglican  bishops  and  clergy,  and  the  in 
difference  exhibited  towards  the  whole  matter  by  the  king 
and  the  Government. 

It  is  but  natural  that  we  should  ask  ourselves  whether  the 
same  difficulties  would  be  likely  to  present  themselves,  were 
a  movement  to  be  set  on  foot  for  the  same  purpose,  in  our 
own  days,  by  one  or  two  of  the  Anglican  bishops,  with  the 

1  "  Notes  on  the  Origin  and  Early  Development  of  the  Restored  Eng.   Ben. 
Congregation,"  p.  51. 

3  "  Mercurius  Civicus,"  July  1644. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  247 

tacit  approval  of  many  of  the  others,  as  well  as  the  eager 
support  of  a  large  number  of  the  clergy. 

At  first  sight  there  would  be  several  encouraging  features 
connected  with  the  question  of  such  a  re-union.  The 
material  advantages  to  the  Catholic  Church  would  be 
enormous.  As  to  details,  there  are  already  several  Eastern 
Churches  united,  or  re-united,  to  Rome,  which  are  allowed  to 
continue  to  enjoy  some  of  the  principal  desiderata  claimed 
by  Anglicans.  I  am  not  forgetting  that  the  position  of  a 
schismatical  Church,  which  had  continued  the  use  of  a  liturgy 
antecedent  to  its  schism,  is  very  different  from  that  of  a  Church 
which  deliberately  altered  and  expurgated  the  liturgy  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  order  to  fit  it  to  the  tastes  of  some  of  the 
eldest-born  children  of  the  Reformation.  Anglicans  might 
reply  that  their  Church  had  at  least  retained,  and  fondly 
clung  to,  much  of  the  Catholic  liturgy,  and  that  they  would 
gladly  see  it  re-catholicized,  if  they  might  be  permitted  to 
use,  as  much  as  possible,  the  words  and  forms  to  which  they 
have  been  accustomed  since  their  childhood.  On  such  ques 
tions  as  these,  it  would  ill  become  the  writer  to  express  any 
opinion  of  his  own  ;  should  they  ever  present  themselves  in 
a  practical  form,  loyal  Catholics  would  be  silent  on  the  sub 
ject  until  Rome  had  spoken.  My  point,  in  the  above  remarks, 
has  only  been  that  it  is  not  so  much  on  the  details  of  discip 
line,  ceremony,  and  liturgy,  that  difficulties  loom. 

The  doctrinal  difficulty  is,  of  course,  a  great  one  ;  yet  there 
are  many  Anglicans  who  hold  most  of  the  dogmas  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  If,  however,  it  came  to  be  a  matter  of  uniting 
the  whole  body  of  the  members  of  the  Established  Church  of 
England  to  the  Catholic  Church,  the  doctrinal  difficulty  would 
assume  such  prodigious  proportions  as  to  appear  to  bar  the 
way  for  once  and  for  all.  It  is  true  that,  in  the  days  of  Laud, 
various  opinions  were  more  or  less  tolerated  within  the  sphere 
of  the  Anglican  Church  ;  that  it  contained  Arminians,  Cal- 
vinists,  and  a  rising  school  of  which  Hales  and  Chillingworth 
were  the  leaders,  three  parties  which  may  be  said  to  have 
been  the  forerunners  of  the  High,  the  Low,  and  the  Broad 
Church  of  to-day  ;  but,  even  allowing  for  a  few  variations  of 


248  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

opinion  among  the  members  of  the  Arminian,  Calvinistic,  and 
free-thinking  sections  of  Anglicanism,  in  Laudian  times,  what 
were  these  few  schools  of  thought  in  comparison  to  the  num 
berless  divisions  and  subdivisions  of  parties  in  the  Estab 
lished  Church  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Few 
things  are  more  indefinite,  at  present,  than  the  term  a  High- 
Churchman  ;  the  very  use  of  which  provokes  the  question, 
"What  sort  of  a  High-Churchman?"  For  of  High-Church 
men  there  are  endless  varieties. 

The  term  Low-Church  may  mean  almost  anything,  and 
there  seems  to  be  little  that  the  term  Broad-Church  may  not 
include.  To  unite  the  Established  Church  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  all  these  varieties  and  sub-varieties  would  have  to 
be  satisfied,  or  at  least  to  be  reckoned  with.  Could  we  expect 
more  concerted  action  among  them,  or  their  leaders,  than 
that  which  was  found  in  the  period  of  Montague  and  Laud  ? 

With  regard  to  the  attitude  likely  to  be  assumed  towards 
a  re-union  movement  by  the  sovereign,  we  should  now  have 
to  substitute  the  word  government  for  sovereign.  Let  us 
assume  for  a  moment  that  the  government  encouraged  such  a 
movement ;  that  it  supported  a  bill  for  its  achievement  ;  that 
it  went  so  far,  if  you  will,  as  to  make  it  a  ministerial  measure. 
This  is  a  wild  assumption,  but  let  us  make  it.  Well,  even 
then,  it  is  as  likely  as  not,  that,  on  the  question  of  some 
amendment  in  committee,  ministers  might  get  beaten,  and 
then — out  goes  the  government,  and  good-bye  to  the  Pope 
and  re-union. 

Long,  however,  before  politicians  could  be  induced  to 
meddle  with  such  a  question,  many  hundreds  of  conflicting 
interests  implicated  in  the  possibility  of  re-union  would  be 
anxiously  and  suspiciously  weighed  by  both  Unionists  and 
Radicals,  and  were  either  of  those  great  parties  to  make  up 
its  mind  to  promote  re-union — a  most  unlikely  contingency — 
the  very  fact  of  its  so  doing  would  determine  the  other  great 
party,  en  bloc,  to  oppose  it  to  the  very  utmost  of  its  power 
and  ability.  Charles  I.  may  have  been  unstable  ;  but  he 
was  an  immoveable  rock  in  comparison  with  the  constantly 
changing  rule  in  Downing  Street. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  year  1635  began  in  London  with  a  remarkable  frost. 
The  Thames  was  frozen  on  the  fifth  of  January  and  continued 
so  until  the  third  of  February,  when  there  was  "a  mighty 
Flood  at  the  Thaw." 

On  the  eighth  of  January,  Laud  married  Lord  Charles 
Herbert  to  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  Her 
mother,  whom  Laud  had  endeavoured  to  keep  in  the  Estab 
lished  Church,  by  his  conference  with  Fisher,  brought  her  to 
the  chapel  door,  but  would  not  enter  it,  an  action  which  must 
have  been  rather  galling  to  the  archbishop.  Honours,  how 
ever,  continued  to  be  showered  upon  him.  On  the  fifth  of 
February,  he  "  was  put  into  the  great  Committee  of  Trade  and 
the  King's  Revenue"  ;  on  the  fourteenth  of  March,  he  "was 
Named  one  of  the  Commissioners  for  the  Exchequer^  upon 
the  death  of  Richard  Lord  Weston,  Lord  High  Treasurer  of 
England"  and,  on  the  sixteenth,  he  was  "  called  "  "  into  the 
Forrain  Committee,  by  the  King."  T 

In  a  former  chapter  I  said  that  Laud  made  the  impropria- 
tions  in  Ireland  his  special  care  ;  he  looked  after  them  even 
more  eagerly  in  England.  The  Puritans  conceived  the 
scheme  of  buying  up  a  large  quantity  of  lay  impropriations, 
with  a  view  to  obtaining  ecclesiastical  power  in  their  own 
hands.  They  formed  a  committee  of  thirteen  men,  clergy 
men,  lawyers,  and  citizens,  for  this  purpose,  and  they  de 
spatched  emissaries  into  different  parts  of  the  country  to 
collect  money.  Laud  heard  of  this  plot  and  formed  his  own 
plans  accordingly.  He  consulted  with  the  king.  The  subject 
having  been  mooted,  Cottington,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
and  Coventry,  Privy  Seal,  had  a  dispute  about  the  disposal 
of  the  benefices  belonging  to  the  king.  Coventry  claimed 

1  Diary,  p.  51. 

»49 


250  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

his  share ;  Cottington  refused  to  recognise  that  claim.  While 
the  two  ministers  were  fighting,  says  Heylin,  "Laud  ended 
the  difference  by  taking  all  unto  himself."  He  advised  the 
king  "  that  many  had  served  as  chaplains  in  his  Majesty's 
ships,  and  should  have  some  reward  given  them  for  their 
services  past.  It  was  cold  venturing  upon  such  hot  services 
without  some  hope  of  reward.  He  takes  occasion,  therefore, 
to  inform  his  Majesty,  that  till  this  controversy  be  decided, 
he  might  do  well  to  take  these  livings  into  his  own  disposal. 
Which  proposition  being  approved,  his  Majesty  committed 
the  said  benefices  unto  his "  [the  archbishop's]  "  disposal." 
Heylin  goes  on  to  say  that  "  Cottington  was  not  at  all  dis 
pleased  at  the  designation  .  .  .  being  more  willing  that  a 
third  man  should  carry  off  the  prize  from  both,  than  to  be 
overstepped  in  his  own  jurisdiction." 

Lord  Cottington  was  not  always  so  well  satisfied  with 
Laud.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  two  men  found  it  the  best 
policy  to  be  apparently  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  there 
was  never  much  love  lost  between  them.  Cottington  was 
even  known  to  have  gone  so  far  as  to  "draw "  the  archbishop. 
I  beg  forgiveness  for  making  use  of  this  slang  word. 

It  came  about  in  this  way.  King  Charles,  who  was  very 
fond  of  hunting,  wished  to  make  a  large  park  for  red,  as  well 
as  fallow,  deer,  between  Hampton  Court  and  Richmond,  where 
he  owned  great  pieces  of  waste  land  and  some  extensive 
woods ;  but  here  and  there  were  a  few  farms  which  it  would 
be  necessary  for  him  to  purchase  at  a  very  high  price,  to 
carry  out  this  scheme,  and  the  wall  which  would  surround 
the  whole  park  would  obviously  add  immensely  to  the  ex 
pense.  His  best  counsellors  strongly  advised  him  to  abandon 
the  scheme. 

The  owners  of  the  small  properties,  intermingled  among 
the  woods  and  wastes,  were  by  no  means  inclined  to  sell 
them,  and  when  they  saw  that  the  wall,  which  was  to  enclose 
the  great  park,  had  been  begun  before  the  in-lying  farms  had 
been  purchased,  they  feared  that  the  enforesting  of  their 
lands  would  be  compulsory,  and  they  complained  in  loud 
terms.  An  outcry  raised  so  near  London  soon  became  a 


2?621635']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  251 

subject  of  gossip  in  the  metropolis  itself,  and  uncompli 
mentary  things  began  to  be  said  concerning  the  conduct  of 
the  king  in  the  matter.  This  was  an  additional  objection  to 
the  proposal  in  the  minds  of  the  king's  advisers. 

From  the  very  first,  Lord  Cottington,  as  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  had  protested  strongly  against  the  king's  idea  of 
making  this  park,  as  a  piece  of  unwarrantable  extravagance, 
especially  at  a  time  when  the  royal  purse  was  in  anything 
but  a  flourishing  condition.  The  price  of  the  lands  would 
be  enormous ;  the  cost  of  a  wall  for  so  large  a  park  would 
be  prodigious,  and  the  discontent  of  the  vendors,  obliged  to 
sell  against  their  wills,  might  possibly  prove  a  still  more 
serious  obstacle.  Therefore,  says  Clarendon,1  he  "  endea- 
vour'd  by  all  the  ways  he  could,  and  by  frequent  impor 
tunities,  to  divert  his  Majesty  from  pursuing  it,  and  put  all 
delays,  he  could  well  do,  in  the  Bargains  which  were  to  be 
made  ;  till  the  King  grew  very  angry  with  him  and  told 
him  *  He  was  resolv'd  to  go  through  with  it,  and  had  already 
caused  Brick  to  be  burn'd,  and  much  of  the  Wall  to  be 
built  upon  his  own  Land  : '  upon  which  Cottington  thought  fit 
to  acquiesce." 

Perceiving  how  obstinate  the  king  was  about  his  hobby, 
and  smarting  from  the  scolding  which  he  had  just  received 
for  trying  to  dissuade  him,  it  occurred  to  Cottington  that  it 
would  be  at  least  amusing,  and  possibly  profitable,  to  entice 
the  archbishop  into  the  trap  into  which  he  himself  had  fallen. 
He  knew  that  Laud  was  no  less  opposed  than  himself  to  the 
foolish  and  expensive  project,  and  that  he  would  not  be 
likely  to  mince  his  words  if  interrogated  upon  the  subject. 

Accordingly,  Cottington  opened  the  question  of  the  king's 
project,  in  a  conversation  with  Laud,  who  told  the  Chancellor 
confidentially  that  2  "  He  should  do  very  well  to  give  the  King 
good  Counsel,  and  to  withdraw  him  from  a  Resolution,  in 
which  his  Honour,  and  Justice  was  so  much  call'd  in  ques 
tion  ; "  and  he  "  spake  with  great  warmth  against  "  the  king's 
pet,  but,  as  he  thought,  foolish  whim. 

Cottington  did  not  say  a  word  to  imply  that  he  had  already 
1  "Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  i.  pp.  100-1.  2  /<*•,  P-  IO1- 


252  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

done  everything  in  his  power  to  dissuade  King  Charles  from 
his  folly.  Quite  the  contrary.  He  assumed  a  shocked  and 
serious  expression,  and  said,  with  a  shake  of  the  head,  "  that 
the  thing  designed  was  very  Lawful,  and  he  thought  the  King 
resolv'd  very  well,  since  the  place  lay  so  conveniently  for  his 
Winter  Exercise,  and  that  he  should  by  it  not  be  compell'd 
to  make  so  long  Journies,  as  he  us'd  to  do  in  that  season  of 
the  year  for  his  Sport,  and  that  no  body  ought  to  disswade 
him  from  it." 

Laud  was  completely  taken  in.  Instead  of  suspecting 
that  Cottington  was  not  speaking  sincerely,  as  he  well  might 
have  done,  since  he  had  been  "  inform'd  "  that  Cottington 
"dislik'd"  the  scheme,  he  "grew  into  much  Passion,"  and 
told  him,  in  a  rage,  that  "  such  Men  as  he  would  Ruin  the 
King,  and  make  him  lose  the  affections  of  his  subjects ;  that 
for  his  own  part,  as  he  had  begun,  so  he  would  go  on  to 
disswade  the  King  from  proceeding  in  so  ill  a  Counsel, 
and  that  he  hop'd  it  would  appear  who  had  been  his 
counsellor." 

Cottington  was  delighted.  He  had  scarcely  hoped  "  to  see 
him  so  soon  hot,  and  resolv'd  to  inflame  him  more,"  Speak 
ing  "  very  calmly,"  he  said  "  that  he  thought  a  Man  could 
not,  with  a  good  Conscience " — this  was  a  sharp  thrust — 
"  hinder  the  King  from  pursuing  his  Resolutions,  and  that  it 
could  not  but  proceed  from  want  of  Affection  to  his  Person, 
and  he  was  not  sure  that  it  might  not  be  High  Treason." 

This  did  not  frighten  Laud,  who  asked  him  "  in  great 
anger  "  "  from  whence  he  had  receiv'd  that  Doctrine  ?  " 

Cottington  replied,  with  irritating  coolness,  that  "  they  who 
did  not  wish  the  King's  health  could  not  love  him  ;  and  they 
who  went  about  to  hinder  his  taking  Recreation,  which  pre- 
serv'd  his  health,  might  be  thought,  for  ought  he  knew,  guilty 
of  the  highest  Crimes." 

"  Upon  which  the  Arch-Bishop  in  great  Rage,  and  with 
many  Reproaches  left  him." 

Laud  pushed  his  way  still  further  into  the  trap.  On  the 
very  first  opportunity,  he  told  the  king  that  "  he  now  knew 
who  was  his  Counsellor  for  making  the  Park,"  and,  having 


CT^6335~6<]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  253 

given  an  account  of  his  conversation  with  Cottington,  abused 
him  roundly. 

For  once  in  his  life,  Laud  got  laughed  at  and  scolded  by 
the  king  who  was  usually  so  obedient  to  his  advice. 

"  My  Lord,"  said  Charles,  "  you  are  deceiv'd.  Cottington  is 
too  hard  "  (sharp)  "  for  you  ;  upon  my  word  he  hath  not  only 
disswaded  me  more,  and  given  more  Reasons  against  this 
Business,  than  all  the  Men  in  England  have  done,  but 
hath  really  obstructed  the  Work  by  not  doing  his  Duty, 
as  I  commanded  him,  for  which  I  have  been  very  much 
displeased  with  him  :  you  see  how  Unjustly  your  Passion 
hath  transported  you." 

To  be  spoken  to  in  such  a  manner,  and  to  find  that  he  had 
been — to  use  a  vulgar  phrase — "made  a  fool  of"  by  Cotting 
ton  was  most  humiliating  to  Laud,  who  cherished  great 
resentment  against  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in 
consequence. 

It  was  no  doubt  of  this  that  Lord  Con  way  wrote  to 
Wentworth,  in  the  November  of  the  same  year  : x — "  We  say 
here  in  Court  that  there  is  a  mortal  quarrel  between  the 
Archbishop  and  my  Lord  Cottington ;  but  Cottington  hath 
gained  in  the  King's  Favour  and  the  Bishop  lost." 

From   time   to   time   Laud's   rancour    towards    Cottin£ton 

o 

manifests  itself.  "  In  this  business  "  (i.e.,  some  legislation 
in  respect  to  the  privileges  conceded  to  the  soap-boilers,  he 
says  in  his  Diary  2)  "  and  some  other  of  great  consequence, 
during  the  Commission  for  the  Treasury,  my  old  Friend, 
Sir  F.  W." — probably  Sir  Francis  Windebank — "  forsook  me, 
and  joyned  with  the  Lord  Cottington  :  Which  put  me  to  the 
exercise  of  a  great  deal  of  patience." 

The  concluding  paragraph  of  the  first  book  of  Clarendon's 
history  is  so  pertinent  to  the  period  of  Laud's  life  with  which 
I  am  now  dealing,  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  a  por 
tion  of  it.  "  Whatsoever  was  the  Cause  of  it,  this  excellent 
Man,  who  stood  not  upon  the  advantage  ground  before,  from 
the  time  of  his  Promotion  to  the  Arch-Bishoprick,  or  rather 
from  that  of  his  being  Commissioner  of  the  Treasury,  exceed- 

1  "  Stratford  Papers,"  vol  i.  p.  479.  2  Diary,  p.  51. 


254  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

ing  provok'd,  or  underwent  the  Envy,  and  Reproach,  and 
Malice  of  all  Men  of  all  Qualities,  and  Conditions  ;  who 
agreed  in  nothing  else  :  all  which,  though  well  enough  known 
to  him,  were  not  enough  Consider'd  by  him,  who  believ'd,  as 
most  Men  did,  the  Government  to  be  so  firmly  Settled,  that 
it  could  neither  be  Shaken  from  within,  nor  without,  and  that 
less  than  a  general  Confusion  of  Law  and  Gospel,  could  not 
hurt  him  ;  which  was  true  too ;  but  he  did  not  Foresee  how 
easily  that  Confusion  might  be  brought  to  pass,  as  it  prov'd 
shortly  to  be."  l 

Laud  had  that  passion  for  stones,  bricks  and  mortar,  to 
which  the  clergy  of  "  all  denominations  of  Christians  "  are 
so  much  addicted.  Three  consecutive  entries  in  his  Diary2 
in  the  year  1635  afford  examples  of  this. 

"  Septemb.  2.  Wednesday,  I  was  in  attendance  upon  the  King 
at  Woodstocke,  and  went  thence  to  Cuds  den,  to  see  the  House 
which  Dr  John  Bancroft  then  Lord  Bishop  of  Oxford  had 
there  built,  to  be  a  House  for  the  Bishops  of  that  See  for 
ever.  He  having  built  that  House  at  my  perswasion." 

"  Septemb.  3.  Thursday ',  I  went  privately  from  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford's  House  at  Cudsden,  to  St  John's  in  Oxford,  to  see  my 
building  there,  and  give  some  directions  for  the  last  finishing 
of  it.  And  returned  the  same  Night,  staying  there  not  two 
Hours." 

"  Septemb.  23.  Wednesday,  I  went  to  Saint  Pauls  to  view 
the  building,  and  returned  that  Night  to  Croydon" 

In  the  same  year,  we  find  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  exercising 
her  influence  with  Laud  with  a  view  to  obtaining  a  bishopric 
for  one  of  her  chaplains.3  "  A  worthy  honest  man  has  desired 
her  recommendations  to  him.  It  is  Dr  Hassall,  Dean  of 
Norwich.  She  does  not  love  to  trouble  him,  or  her  other 
friends  with  recommendations,  but  this  honest  man  for  some 
years  lived  at  the  Hague,  preacher  in  the  English  Church 
and  she  can  answer  for  him,  that  he  is  a  deserving  man,  and 
no  puritan  ;  therefore  she  could  not  refuse  to  recommend  him 
and  entreats  his  Grace  for  her  sake  to  prefer  him  when  he 
shall  have  occasion."  As  in  many  other  ladies'  letters,  the 

1  Diary,  p.  102.  2P.  52.  3  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1635,  p.  327. 


of  Archbishop  Laud.  255 

pith  is  in  the  postscript: — "  P.S.  She  hears  the  Bishop  of 
Norwich  is  dead  ;  she  says  no  more,  but  leaves  all  to  the 
Archbishop." 

Laud  replied  l  that  he  had  "  made  Hassall  Dean  of  Norwich 
merely  for  the  sake  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  whom  Hassall 
had  served  at  the  Hague.  ...  A  fortnight  before  her  letters 
came,  Hassall  was  with  the  Archbishop  and  he  promised  (if 
it  lay  in  his  power)  to  help  him  to  a  better  deanery,  or  some 
thing  else  to  advance  his  means."  [Hassall  was  evidently 
a  terrible  place-hunter  and  beggar.]  "  After  this,  Hassall 
brought  him  her  letters,  by  the  postscript  whereof,  he  first 
discovered  his  aim  to  be  Bishop  of  Norwich,  whereas  Hassall 
knows  as  well  as  the  writer  that  the  King  " — i.e.,  Laud — "will 
make  none  bishops  but  such  as  he  has  some  knowledge  of 
himself,  as  having  been  his  own  chaplain  in  ordinary  or  other 
wise,  &c.  &c.  .  .  .  He  would  here  end,  being  very  unwilling 
to  make  any  complaint,  but  Hassall  when  he  delivered  him 
her  Majesty's  letters,  carried  it  so  high  upon  his  own  merit 
that  he  dares  say  had  he  done  so  to  the  writer's  predecessor 
he  would  soon  have  found  he  had  done  amiss.  But  the  Arch 
bishop  will,  for  Hassall's  reference  to  her  Majesty,  pass  over 
this,  and  do  that  which  shall  beseem  him  for  Hassall,  as  he 
may  be  able  to  prevail  with  his  Majesty." 

Not  altogether  an  agreeable  letter  this  for  the  Queen  of 
Bohemia  to  receive  from  Archbishop  Laud,  especially  as  she 
was  endeavouring,  at  that  very  time,  to  enlist  his  services  and 
influence  with  her  brother,  the  King  of  England,  on  her  own 
personal  behalf.  In  the  same  month  that  she  received  the 
above  letter,  she  wrote 2  to  Laud,  saying  that  her  son,  the 
elector,  was  "  desirous,  for  his  first  action,  to  show  his  respect 
to  the  King  his  uncle,  and  go  himself  to  kiss  his  hand  and 
give  him  thanks  for  his  favours.  Entreats  the  Archbishop  to 
give  him  his  best  counsel  in  all  his  actions  and  his  favour  in 
his  affairs."  And  then  comes  another  P.S.  "  Had  written 
this  when  she  received  his  from  Mr  Gordon.  Gives  him  many 
thanks  for  his  favour  to  Dr  Hassall  for  her  sake,  but  is  sorry  he 
behaved  himself  so  ill  as  to  give  the  Archbishop  any  offence." 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1635,  pp.  375-6.  -  2b.,  p.  400. 


256  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

It  is  pretty  clear,  here,  that  she  felt  her  son's  interests  to  be 
more  important  than  those  of  Hassall,  for  whom  she  attempted 
no  defence. 

She  writes  more  freely  in  recommending  her  son  to  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  on  his  visit  to  England.1  "  He  is  young  et  fort 
nouveau,  so  he  will  no  doubt  commit  many  errors,  which 
Vane's  good  counsel  may  hinder  him  from.  She  fears  dam 
nably  how  he  will  do  with  their  ladies,  for  he  is  a  very  ill 
courtier,  therefore  prays  Vane  to  desire  them  not  to  laugh 
too  much  at  him,  but  be  merciful  to  him." 

Among  the  many  letters  of  Laud  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia, 
is  a  long  one 2  in  which  he  urges  her  to  "  demand  of  the  Em 
peror  the  investiture  of  her  son  in  a  legal  form."  Certainly 
he  spared  no  time  or  pains  in  advising  her.  In  doing  this 
however,  he  may  have  been  acting  chiefly  at  the  bidding 
of  his  royal  master,  who  strongly  advocated  a  similar 
policy.3 

After  making  many  and  strenuous  objections,  the  queen 
acted  on  Laud's  advice.  Lord  Arundel  was  sent  by  King 
Charles  on  an  embassy  to  Vienna  on  her  behalf.  In  a  letter 
to  Laud,  "  she  said  that  though  she  would  not  dispute  the 
king  her  dear  brother's  will  in  anything,  she  could  not  but 
regret  the  Viennese  embassy."  4 

Into  the  merits  of  this  question  I  have  not  space  to  enter; 
I  can  only  quote  a  few  sentences  to  show  the  spirit  of  the 
correspondence  between  herself  and  Laud. 

"  I  fear  this  last  speech  of  mine,"  she  says  to  him  in  one  of 
her  letters,  "may  make  you  think  .  .  .  that  I  would  rather 
have  my  son  restored  by  force  than  by  treaty ;  ...  it  is  all 
one  to  me  by  what  ways  he  be  restored,  so  he  be  so  fully  and 
honourably ;  but  indeed  I  do  not  think  he  will  be  restored 
fully,  otherwise  than  by  arms ;  sixteen  years'  experience 
makes  me  believe  it."5 

Laud  was,  or  pretended  to  be,  dreadfully  shocked  at  this. 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1635,  p.  435.  27£.,  p.  415. 

3Boswell's  Dep.,  Feb.  18,  March  6,  April  20,  1635. 

4  Green's  "  Lives  of  the  Princesses  of  Eng.,"  vol.  v.  p.  551. 

5  June  II,  1636,  German  Corresp. 


SS3x636-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  257 

He  replies  : — "  You  grant  it  all  one  to  you  by  what  way  he  be 
restored,  so  he  be  restored  fully  and  honourably.  Under 
favour,  good  madam,  not  so.  For  it  cannot  be  all  one  to 
Christendom,  nor  to  yourself  to  have  him  restored,  be  it 
never  so  honourably,  by  arms  as  by  treaty.  It  may  be  there 
is  soldiers'  counsel  in  this,  madam ;  but  I  am  a  priest,  and  as 
such,  I  can  never  think  it  all  one  to  recover  by  effusion  of 
Christian  blood,  and  without  it,  provided  that  without  blood 
right  may  be  had."  * 

To  this,  perhaps  rather  priggish,  letter  of  Laud's,  the  queen 
replies  : — "  I  confess,  as  a  woman  and  a  Christian,  I  should 
rather  desire  it  by  peace,  but  I  have  lived  so  long  amongst 
soldiers  and  wars,  as  it  makes  one  to  me  as  easy  as  the  other 
and  as  familiar,  especially  when  I  remember  never  to  have 
read  in  the  chronicles  of  my  ancestors,  that  any  King  of 
England  got  any  good  by  treaties,  but  most  commonly  lost 
by  them,  and  on  the  contrary,  by  wars  made  always  good 
peaces.  ...  I  know  your  profession  forbids  you  to  like  this 
scribbling  of  mine,  yet  I  am  confident  you  cannot  condemn 
me  for  it.  ...  All  I  fear  is  that  you  will  think  I  have  too 
warring  a  mind  for  my  sex  ;  but  the  necessity  of  my  fortune 
has  made  it."  2 

On  this  particular  point,  the  woman  got  the  last  word  ! 

A  couple  of  years  later,  the  queen  and  Laud  were  ap 
parently  of  one  mind  about  "  the  effusion  of  Christian  blood," 
as  well  as  her  other  affairs ;  for  she  writes  to  him  : — "  The 
king  my  dear  brother  was  pleased  to  write  to  me  himself, 
that  he  doth  approve  of  my  son's  intentions,  and  with  so  great 
a  favour  as  the  bestowing  his  money  towards  the  levies. 
You  may  easily  imagine  how  much  contentment  it  brought 
to  us  both.  I  am  confident  your  good  counsel  did  much 
contribute  to  this  resolution  of  the  king's,  for  which  I  shall 
ever  be  beholden  to  you.  Meppen  is  now  rendered  into  my 
son's  hands,  the  garrison  there  having  sworn  to  him  ;  the 
levies  are  already  begun  ;  I  hope  shortly  he  will  be  ready  to 
go  himself  into  the  field."  1 


June  26,  1636,  German  Corresp.  '-'  Aug.  6,  1636,  German  Corresp. 

3  April  12,  1638,  German  Corresp. 
R 


• 


258  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

There  was  no  longer  any  question  of  the  "cold  compli 
ments"  passing  between  the  queen  and  the  archbishop, 
which  she  mentioned  in  a  letter  to  Roe  in  1634;  on  the 
other  hand,  she  writes  to  him  of  another  great  ecclesiastic, 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  "as  this  ulcerous  priest."1 

1  Oct.  29,  1639,  German  Corresp. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  re-appearance  of  the  plague  in  London,  made  the 
spring  of  the  year  1636  an  anxious  one  in  England  ;  but, 
fortunately,  the  outbreak  was  less  serious  than  that  of  1603-4, 
mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter,  when  over  30,000  people  are 
said  to  have  died  of  it  in  London  alone,  and  still  less  so  than 
that  of  about  thirty  years  later,  when  upwards  of  100,000  are 
reported  to  have  perished.  Political  troubles  were  also 
gathering  on  the  horizon  ;  although  it  was  attempted  to 
conceal  these  by  the  splendour  of  the  court  and  the  pretended 
popularity  of  the  king,  hated  as  he  was  in  reality  by  a  large 
proportion  of  his  subjects. 

Loved,  again,  as  was  the  queen  among  the  few,  she  and 
her  native  attendants,  more  especially  her  chaplains,  were 
objects  of  dislike  and  grave  suspicion  to  the  many.  Yet 
everything,  that  could  be,  was  being  done  to  bring  her  charms 
and  virtues  into  prominence  before  the  country  at  large. 
Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont,  Fletcher,  and  Waller  were  all  engaged 
in  promulgating  her  praises  in  verse ;  Rubens  and  Vandyke, 
the  latter  of  whom  married  an  English  woman  and  lived  at 
Blackfriars,  painted  portraits  of  her,  while  Inigo  Jones  was 
making  her  court  picturesque  by  the  scenery  which  he  devised 
for  her  masques  and  ballets.  Her  tastes  were  imitated  by 
the  nobility.  In  the  royal  progresses,  it  became  the  fashion 
for  the  hosts  who  received  the  king  and  queen,  to  engage 
poets  to  compose  special  dramas  for  their  entertainment,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  Earl  of  Newcastle  when  they  paid  him 
a  visit  at  Bolsover  Castle,  in  Derbyshire,1  for  which  occasion 
Ben  Jonson  wrote  complimentary  verses  to  be  recited  before 
the  royal  guests. 

The  king  was  in  reality  more  devoted  to  the  arts  than  the 

1  "  Hist.  Coll.  of  Noble  Families,"  by  Collins,  p.  26. 

259 


260  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

queen,  although  his  people  attributed  his  bent  in  that  direc 
tion  to  her  "evil"  influence.  He  not  only  succeeded  in 
bringing  Rubens  and  Vandyke  to  England,  but,  with  his 
own  hand,  wrote  to  Albano,1  the  famous  painter  of  children 
—his  popular  picture  of  the  Infant  Saviour  and  St  John  is 
familiar  to  all  who  have  visited  Florence — asking  him  to 
come  and  live  at  his  court  in  England.  Daniel  Mytens  was 
one  of  his  court  artists,  and  Nicolas  Laniere  was  not  only 
employed  to  engrave  for  him,  but  also  to  choose  works  of 
art  for  purchase.  As  to  Charles's  poetical  tastes,  Milton 
sarcastically  wrote  of  him  (in  his  Iconoclastes]  that  he  was 
actually  so  depraved  as  to  be  fond  of  Shakespeare.  "  I  shall 
not  instance  an  abstruse  author,  wherein  the  King  might  be 
less  conversant,  but  one  whom  we  well  know  was  the  closest 
companion  of  these  his  solitudes,  William  Shakespeare."2 

Another  poet,  Drummond,  had  a  slap  at  him,  for  his  love 
of  the  arts.  In  his  history  of  Scotland,  when  writing  of 
"  James  the  Third,"  he  is  evidently  aiming  at  King  Charles, 
of  whom  he  says  : — "  It  is  allowable  in  men  that  have  not 
much  to  do,  to  be  taken  with  admiration  of  watches,  clocks, 
dials,  automates,  pictures,  statues  ;  but  the  art  of  princes  is  to 
give  laws,  and  govern  their  people  with  wisdom  in  peace,  and 
glory  in  war  ;  to  spare  the  humble,  and  prostrate  the  proud." 3 

A  Puritan,  again,  after  Charles's  death,  wrote  of  him  as 
"  squandering  away  millions  of  pounds  on  braveries  and 
vanities,  on  old  rotten  pictures  and  broken-nosed  marbles."  4 

Much  as  Laud  undoubtedly  influenced  Charles  in  ecclesi 
astical  affairs,  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  evidence  to  show 
that  he  did  anything  to  encourage  him  in  his  taste  for  the 
fine  arts,  except  in  the  matter  of  the  repairs  and  adornments 
-of  St  Paul's  Cathedral.  Laud  sat  for  his  portrait  to  Vandyke, 
and  the  picture  now  hangs  in  the  palace  at  Lambeth— there 
is  an  excellent  copy  of  it  in  Mr  Benson's  life  of  Laud — but 

:  "  Academise  Picturae,"  p.  282. 

2  I  quote  from  D'Israeli's  "  Life  and  Reign  of  Charles  I.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  109. 

3  lb.,  pp.  106-7. 

4  "The  Non-such  Charles,"  his  character,   extracted  out  of  divers   original 
Transactions,  Despatches,  and  the  Notes  of  several  public  ministers,  as  well  at 
home  as  abroad,  1651. 


xviithcent.  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  261 

what  artistic  taste  he  possessed,  personally,  was  chiefly  in  the 
direction  of  architecture,  although  his  work  at  St  Paul's  and 
St  John's  may  have  been  actuated  rather  by  a  desire  for 
the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  his  church  and  his 
college,  than  by  any  irrepressible  exuberance  of  architectural 
genius. 

The  tastes  in  common  between  the  king  and  his  archbishop 
seem  to  have  been  chiefly  religion  and  ecclesiastical  matters, 
politics,  and,  on  certain  somewhat  circumscribed  lines,  litera 
ture.  On  principle  Laud  was  a  king-worshipper ;  but  he  was 
also  much  attached  to  Charles  as  a  man. 

The  features  of  Charles  I.  are  probably  better  known  than 
those  of  any  other  monarch  in  history.  Different  in  many 
ways,  his  eyes,  like  those  of  Laud,  were  quick  and  penetrat 
ing.  As  they  discussed  their  policy,  each  must  have  en 
deavoured  to  read  the  other  with  his  glance,  and  so  far  there 
was  much  in  common  between  them  ;  but  the  round,  plump, 
and  rubicund  face  of  the  archbishop  was  in  violent,  and 
somewhat  unbecoming,  contrast  to  the  long,  narrow,  pale 
features  of  the  king  ;  nor  was  there  a  less  marked  distinc 
tion  between  Charles's  stuttering  accents,  and  the  decided, 
rasping  voice  of  Laud.  It  is  well  to  remember,  when 
picturing  to  oneself  the  two  friends,  that  Laud  was  the  older 
by  twenty-seven  years.  Both  men  were  impetuous ;  but 
the  king  had  most  self-command  ;  if  neither  of  them  was 
graceful,  and  both  were  hurried  in  their  bodily  movements, 
Charles  was  the  most  active;  if  neither  was  tall,  the  king 
was  at  least  of  moderate  height,  while  the  archbishop  was 
diminutive.  In  point  of  character,  Laud  had  one  great 
advantage  over  his  monarch — he  always  knew  his  own  mind, 
whereas  Charles  often  did  not. 

Most  readers  of  English  history  must  have  contemplated 
the  appearance  of  these  two  men  who  were  so  often  in 
counsel  together,  and  the  share  attributed  to  either  in  the 
misfortunes  which  were  consequent  from  those  counsels  will 
have  depended  to  a  great  extent  upon  the  predilections  of 
each  individual  student,  some  tracing  every  evil  that  befell 
Charles  I.  to  the  bad  advices  he  received  from  Laud,  others 


262  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvmhcent. 

regarding  Laud  as  a  martyr  to  the  follies  of  a  weak  and 
faithless  monarch. 

To  be  quite  candid,  I  admit  the  difficulty  of  deciding  how 
far  Laud  really  influenced  the  conduct  of  the  king.  In 
ecclesiastical  matters  he  most  unquestionably  did  so  very 
greatly,  though  even  in  these,  there  are  evidences  that  Charles 
sometimes,  if  very  rarely,  took  a  line  of  his  own  ;  in  political 
affairs  the  extent  of  Laud's  influence  is  very  much  more 
doubtful.  That  it  existed,  even  that  it  existed  to  a  very  con 
siderable  degree,  no  honest  observer  of  his  times  can  deny ; 
yet  it  is  open  to  an  historian  to  assert  that  much  of  Charles's 
policy,  commonly  attributed  to  the  suggestions  of  Laud,  may 
more  probably  have  been  due  to  those  of  other  ministers  of 
the  Crown. 

Finance  was  the  medium  of  one-half  the  troubles  of 
Charles  I.,  religion  of  the  larger  proportion  of  the  other. 
If  we  allow  that  Laud  was  responsible  for  the  latter,  can 
we  acquit  him  of  all  share  in  the  former  ?  I  fear  it  is  im 
possible  to  do  so  ;  but  most  certainly  Charles's  ruinous 
financial  measures  were  not  entirely  the  suggestion  of  his 
archbishop. 

Both  the  Treasury  and  the  king's  private  purse  were  woe 
fully  empty,  and  he  and  his  ministers  were  at  their  wits'  end 
for  means  to  "  raise  the  wind."  Much  money  was  brought 
into  the  royal  exchequer  by  what  was  little  else  than  a 
mere  legal  quibble,  and  one  which  was  too  technical  to 
have  been  the  work  of  the  archbishop.  The  objects  of 
this  attempt  to  obtain  funds  were  large  landowners,  who 
had  hitherto  considered  themselves  secure  in  tenure  of 
the  estates  which  they  had  inherited  from  their  fore 
fathers,  but  were  now  surprised  to  find  themselves  sub 
jected  to  enormous  so-called  "  fines."  In  those  days,  as  in 
more  modern  ones,  the  proverb  that  "  nothing  is  so  safe  as 
land "  was  proved  to  be  subject  to  certain  qualifications. 
"  My  Lord  of  Salisbury,"  writes  Clarendon,  "  was  fined 
£20,000 ;  the  Earl  of  Westmorland,  £19,000 ;  Sir  Chris 
topher  Hatton,  £12,000;  My  Lord  Newport,  £3000;  Sir 
James  Watson,  £4000 ;  Sir  Robert  Bannister,  £3000,  and 


£tC631636-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  263 

many  others  smaller  sums,"  l  for  encroachments  on  the  forest 
of  Rockingham  alone.  The  commissioners  of  the  Treasury 
had  hunted  up  some  ancient  royal  rights  over  certain  forests  ; 
and,  although,  in  the  course  of  five  centuries,  these  rights  had 
practically  become  obsolete,  they  revived  them,  and  "  the 
landholders  were  summoned  to  prove  their  titles,  or  otherwise 
to  answer  for  their  encroachments."  - 

Exactions  were  enforced  by  water,  as  well  as  by  land. 
Noy,  the  Attorney-General,  found  among  the  documents  at 
the  Tower  some  old  writs  compelling  the  ports,  under  certain 
circumstances,  to  provide  the  king  with  ships  ;  and  not  only 
these,  for  there  were  other  writs  which  obliged  the  maritime 
counties,  as  well  as  the  actual  ports,  to  contribute  to  their 
cost.  This  old  tax  was  revived,  and  thereby  "the  King 
obtained  a  yearly  supply  of  two  hundred  and  eighteen 
thousand  five  hundred  pounds  "  ;  "a  fleet  of  more  than  sixty 
sail  annually  swept  the  narrow  seas,  and  the  admirals,  first 
the  earl  of  Lindsay,  afterwards  the  earl  of  Northumberland, 
received  orders  to  sink  every  foreign  ship  which  refused  to 
salute  the  English  flag."  * 

The  success  with  the  navy  was  made  the  stepping-stone  to 
similar  measures  with  the  army.  Laud's  bosom  friend,  Went- 
worth,  spoke  thus  on  this  subject  in  the  Council.  "  Since  it 
is  lawful  for  the  king  to  impose  a  tax  towards  the  equipment 
of  the  navy,  it  must  be  equally  so  for  the  levy  of  an  army  ; 
and  the  same  reason  which  authorizes  him  to  levy  an  army 
to  resist,  will  authorize  him  to  carry  that  army  abroad,  that 
he  may  prevent  invasion.  Moreover,  what  is  law  in  England, 
is  law  also  in  Scotland  and  Ireland."  4 

Admirable  in  logic,  and,  I  am  afraid,  very  Laudian  in  style  ! 

A  quiet,  courteous,  and,  as  was  thought,  retiring  country 
gentleman,  named  Hampden,  a  rich  Buckinghamshire  squire 
of  good  family,  had  astonished  his  friends  and  acquaintances, 
some  ten  years  earlier,  by  refusing  to  pay  an  assessment 
which  he  considered  unjust,  and  going  to  prison  rather  than 
yield.  In  1636,  he  again  attracted  the  attention  of  his  fellow- 

1  Clarendon's  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb."  2  Lingard,  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 

3  Ib.  4  Rushworth,  ii.  pp.  252-8  ;  "  Biblioth.  Regia,"pp.  246-250. 


264  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

countrymen  by  resisting  the  tax  for  ship-money.  His  case 
was  argued  for  twelve  days,  before  as  many  judges,  in  the 
Court  of  Exchequer.  "  So  strong,"  says  Macaulay,1  "  were  the 
arguments  against  the  pretensions  of  the  Crown  that,  de 
pendent  and  servile  as  the  judges  were,  the  majority  against 
Hampden  was  the  smallest  possible.  Still  there  was  a 
majority."  The  popularity  of  Hampden  became  extraor 
dinary,  and  a  spark  had  fallen  upon  a  train  of  gunpowder 
which  was  to  help  materially  in  shattering  the  king  and  his 
Government,  yet,  outwardly,  Charles  seemed  to  be,  for  the 
time,  triumphant. 

In  1635  died  one  of  Laud's  many  enemies,  nor  the  least 
powerful.  This  was  the  Earl  of  Portland,  Lord  Treasurer, 
and  as  we  have  already  seen,  Laud  took  his  place  at  the 
Board  ;  but,  a  year  later,  he  persuaded  the  king  to  give  the 
post  to  his  old  schoolfellow,  William  Juxon,  Bishop  of  London. 
He  says  in  his  Diary  2 : — "  No  Church  Man  had  it  since  Henry 
7's  time.  I  pray  God  bless  him  to  carry  it  so,  that  the 
Church  may  have  Honour,  and  the  King  and  the  State 
Service  and  Contentment  by  it.  And  now  if  the  Church 
will  not  hold  themselves  up  under  God  ;  I  can  do  no  more." 

Of  this  proceeding,  Clarendon  writes  3  : — "  On  a  suddain 
the  Staff  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Bishop  of  London^  a 
man  so  unknown,  that  his  Name  was  scarce  heard  of  in  the 
Kingdom,  who  had  been,  within  two  years  before,  but  a 
private  Chaplain  to  the  King,  and  the  President  of  a  poor 
Colledge  in  Oxford.  This  Inflam'd  more  men  than  were 
angry  before,  and  no  doubt  did  not  only  sharpen  the  Edge  of 
Envy  and  Malice  against  the  Arch-Bishop  (who  was  the 
known  Architect  of  the  Fabrick)  but  most  unjustly  Indis 
posed  many  towards  the  Church  it  self;  which  they  look'd 
upon  as  the  Gulph  ready  to  swallow  all  the  great  Offices, 
there  being  Others  in  view,  of  that  Robe,  who  were  ambitious 
enough  to  expect  the  rest." 

At  the  risk  of  being  accused  of  overburdening  my  work 
with  quotations,  I  will  give  part  of  what  he  says  in  the  next 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i.  2  P.  53- 

3  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  i.  p.  99. 


]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  265 

paragraph.  "  In  the  mean  time  the  Arch-Bishop  himself 
was  infinitely  pleas'd  with  what  was  done,  and  unhappily  be- 
liev'd  he  had  provided  a  stronger  Support  for  the  Church  ; 
and  never  abated  any  thing  of  his  Severity,  and  Rigour  to 
wards  men  of  all  conditions,  or  in  the  Sharpness  of  his 
language,  and  expressions,  which  was  so  natural  to  him, 
that  he  could  not  debate  anything  without  some  Commo 
tion,  when  the  Argument  was  not  of  moment,  nor  bear  Con 
tradiction  in  debate,  even  in  the  Council,  where  all  men  are 
free,  with  that  Patience,  and  Temper  that  was  necessary ;  of 
which,  They  who  wish'd  him  not  well,  took  many  Advant 
ages,  and  would  therefore  contradict  him,  that  he  might  be 
transported  with  Passion,  which,  upon  a  short  recollection, 
he  was  always  Sorry  for,  and  most  readily,  and  heartily 
would  make  Acknowledgment."  In  short,  they  doubtless 
nudged  each  other,  and  whispered  the  seventeenth  century 
equivalent  of: — "  Now,  I  will  get  a  rise  out  of  old  Laud  !  " 

We  have  seen  how  Cottington  "  drew "  him,  upon  one 
occasion  :  it  was  not  a  solitary  one.  "  No  man,"  continues 
Clarendon,  "  so  willingly  made  unkind  use  of  all  those 
Occasions,  as  the  Lord  Cottington,  who,  being  a  master  of 
Temper,  and  of  the  most  profound  Dissimulation,  knew 
too  well  how  to  lead  him  into  a  Mistake,  and  then  drive  him 
into  Choler,  and  then  Expose  him  upon  the  matter,  and  the 
manner,  to  the  judgment  of  the  Company  ;  and  he  chose  to 
do  this  most,  when  the  King  was  present ;  and  then  he  would 
Dine  with  him  the  next  day." 

Cottington  would  hardly  have  played  these  pranks  upon 
Laud  in  the  king's  presence,  unless  he  had  reason  for  know 
ing  that  it  would  be  entertaining  to  his  Majesty,  and  it  is 
far  from  impossible  that,  much  as  Charles  respected  Laud 
and  trusted  his  advice,  he  may  have  been  a  little  wearied 
of  being  constantly  tutored  by  him,  in  which  case  it  would 
be  a  relief  to  his  feelings  to  see  his  pedagogue  made 
sport  of. 

Of  the  "  others  in  view,"  mentioned  by  Clarendon — that 
is  to  say,  other  ecclesiastics  for  whom  high  offices  were  in 
tended,  D'Israeli  gives  us  some  idea,  in  his  Life  and  Reign  of 


266  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Irtca63l636' 

Charles  7.,1  although  he  does  not  mention  his  authority. 
"An  ill-natured  rumour  of  the  day  made  Wren,  Bishop  of 
Norwich,  a  Secretary  of  State ;  and  Bancroft,  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer."  And  he  presently 
adds : — "  This  advancement  of  the  ecclesiastics  was  never 
forgiven  by  the  affronted  nobility,  nor  even  by  the  jealous 
lawyers :  the  lawyer  Whitelocke  is  sore,  and  the  courtier 
Clarendon  murmurs."  May,  again,  in  his  History  of  the  Par 
liament  of  England?  says: — "The  Archbishop  by  the  same 
means  which  he  used  to  preserve  his  clergy  from  con 
tempt,  exposed  them  to  envy,  and  as  the  wisest  could  then 
prophesy,  to  a  more  than  probability  of  losing  all." 

Laud  was  none  the  less  on  the  eve  of  one  of  his  greatest 
triumphs.  His  king  and  queen  had  consented  to  become 
his  guests  at  Oxford.  King,  Church,  and  Oxford  were  the 
three  things  nearest  to  his  heart,  so  that  his  delight  at  the 
prospect  may  well  be  imagined.  Great  preparations  were  made 
for  the  royal  visit,  and  the  great  people  in  the  neighbour 
hood  were  most  liberal  in  sending  provisions  to  assist  Laud, 
as  Chancellor  of  the  University,  in  entertaining  the  king, 
queen,  and  court.  Besides  ^"155  in  money,  he  received,  as 
presents  for  the  occasion,  "  7  stags,  63  bucks  and  does, 
5  oxen,  74  wethers,  2  lambs,  I  calf,  besides  poultry  innumer 
able,  swans,  pheasants,  partridges,  quails,  turkeys,  ducks, 
rabbits,  and  peafowl,  fish,  fruit,  and  even  cakes,  creams,  and 
cheeses." 3 

He  started  from  Croydon  for  the  university  town  with  not 
a  little  state,  being  accompanied  by  a  retinue  of  between  forty 
and  fifty  horsemen,  "  being  all  of  my  own,"  as  he  writes 
with  evident  pride. 

Sir  Thomas  Roe  had  sent  him  an  invitation  to  stay  at  his 
country  house,  on  the  journey,  to  which  he  replied  that  he  4 
"  will  trouble  him  for  the  night,  upon  two  conditions ;  that 
they  will  let  him  come  as  to  a  private  lodging,  and  not  trouble 
themselves  with  chargeable  entertainment ;  and  let  him 
begone  betimes  in  the  morning  without  eating,  for  his  thoughts 

1  Vol.  Hi.  p.  69.  2  p.  33. 

3  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1636,  Preface,  p.  xxii.         4  /#.,  1636-7,  Aug.  4,  1636. 


36']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud  267 

will  be  full  of  business  and  will  make  him  no  good  company 
for  any  of  his  friends." 

The  second  night  he  stayed  at  Cuddeston,  which  seemed 
almost  too  near  Oxford  to  be  worth  stopping  at,  but  he  may 
very  likely  have  desired  to  enter  the  city  with  dignity,  and 
as  free  as  possible  from  travel-stains,  although  he  writes 1 : — 
"  I  came  privately  into  Oxford,  in  regard  to  the  nearness  of 
the  King  and  Queen,  then  at  Woodstock." 

Garrard  wrote  to  Lord  Con  way  -  : — "  On  Monday  all 
repaired  to  St  John's  to  pay  their  respects  to  Laud." 
"  Courteous  he  was  to  all,  but  walked  most  and  entertained 
longest  my  Lord  Cottington."  Was  this  returning  good  for 
evil,  or  was  he  rather  afraid  of  him  ?  "  At  one  of  the  clock 
on  the  ringing  out  of  the  University  Bell,  all  the  students  ol 
quality  waited  on  their  Chancellor,  Archbishop  Laud,  to  meet 
his  Majesty  near  two  miles  out  of  town,  all  on  horseback  and 
with  footcloths." 

The  number  of  speeches  to  which  the  king  had  to  listen 
on  entering  Oxford  was  extraordinary.  Laud  writes  :J  : — "  The 
Vice-Chancellor  made  a  very  good  speech,"  when  the  king 
reached  Oxford  from  Woodstock.  As  the  procession  passed 
St  John's  College,  "  Mr  Thomas  Atkinson  made  another 
speech  unto  them,  very  brief,  and  much  approved  of  by  his 
Majesty  afterwards  to  me.  Within  Christ  Church  Gate,  Mr 
William  Strode,  the  University  Orator,  entertained  him  with 
another  speech,  which  was  well  approved.  Then  the  King 
accompanied  his  Queen  to  her  lodging,  and  instantly  returned 
and  went  with  the  Lords  to  the  Cathedral."  Thither,  of 
course,  he  had  to  go  without  his  wife.  "  There  after  his  private 
devotions  ended,  at  the  West  Door  Dr  Morris  "  (he  was  the 
Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew),  "one  of  the  prebendaries, 
entertained  him  with  another  short  speech,  which  was  well 
liked,  and  thence  his  majesty  proceeded  into  the  quire  and 
heard  service." 

The  speeches  were  all  very  well  in  their  way  ;  but  there 

1  "  Lib.  of  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  vol.  v.  part  i.  p.  155. 
-  "Gal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1636-7,  Sept.  14,  1636. 
•'  '•  Lib.  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  part.  i.  pp.  148  and  fol. 


268  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

had  been  a  lack  of  enthusiasm  as  the  royal  cavalcade  passed 
in  solemn  state  through  the  Cornmarket,  past  Carfax,  and 
down  St  Aldate's,  to  Christ  Church.  "Though  the  streets 
were  lined  with  scholars  of  all  degrees,  yet  neither  they  nor 
the  citizens  made  any  expressions  of  joy,  or  uttered,  as  the 
manner  is,  '  Vivat  Rex."  l 

After  supper,  the  royal  party  were  entertained  at  Christ's 
Church  with  a  play,  which  Laud  admits,  although  "well 
penned,"  "  did  not  take  the  Court  so  well  "  ;  while,  in  his 
already  quoted  letter  to  Lord  Conway,  Garrard  says  it  was 
"  fitter  for  scholars  than  a  Court,"  adding  that  Lord  Carnarvon 
pronounced  it  to  have  been  the  "  worst  he  ever  saw  but  one 
that  he  saw  at  Cambridge." 

The  next  day,  Laud  had  his  royal  master  up  betimes,  in 
the  cathedral,  where  there  was  "  a  service  and  a  sermon," 
soon  after  eight  o'clock.  In  the  course  of  the  morning  there 
was  convocation,  at  which  "  the  two  princes  with  divers  lords, 
were  pleased  to  be  made  Masters  of  Art ;  and  the  two  princes 
names  were  by  his  majesty's  leave  entered  in  St  John's 
College  :  to  do  that  house  honour  for  my  sake,"  says  Laud. 

Then  came  the  great  event  of  the  visit,  the  banquet  given 
by  Laud  to  his  king  and  queen,  with  their  court,  in  his  own 
dearly  loved  St  John's. 

He  says: — "They  first  viewed  the  new  buildings," — let  it 
be  remembered  that  the  older  part  was  not  then  at  all  ancient 
— "  and  that  done,  I  attended  them  up  the  library  stairs ;  where 
so  soon  as  they  began  to  ascend,  the  music  began,  and  they  had 
a  fine  short  song  fitted  for  them  as  they  ascended  the  stairs." 

The  banquet  was  served  in  "  the  new  library,  built  by 
myself."  Crossfield  remarks  of  this  dinner  that  "  the  baked 
meats  served  up  in  St  John's  were  so  contrived  by  the  cook 
that  there  was  first  the  forms  of  Archbishops,  then  bishops, 
doctors,  &c.,  seen  in  order,  wherein  the  king  and  courtiers 
took  much  content." 

After  dinner  there  was  a  play  at  St  John's.  The  windows 
of  the  hall,  Laud  tells  us,  were  "  shut,"  and  candles  were 
lighted.  He  "  had  the  hall  kept  as  fresh  and  cool," — it  was 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1636,  Preface,  p.  xxiv. 


of  Archbishop  Laud.  269 

the  3Oth  of  August — "  that  there  was  not  any  one  person 
when  the  king  and  queen  came  into  it."  The  play  itself 
"  was  merry  without  offence,  and  so  gave  a  great  deal  of 
content." 

Of  the  royal  visit  to  St  John's  College  he  writes  :  "  I  thank 
God  I  had  that  happiness  that  all  things  were  in  very  good 
order,  and  that  no  man  went  out  at  the  gates,  courtier  or 
other,  but  content ;  which  was  a  happiness  quite  beyond 
expectation." 

That  evening,  after  supper,  at  eight  o'clock,  there  was  again 
a  play  at  Christ  Church.  Fortunately,  unlike  its  predecessor 
of  the  previous  evening,  it  was  a  great  success.  Even  Garrard 
admits  this  !  The  subject  was  a  Persian  story,  and  the  scenery 
and  decorations  had  been  designed  by  Inigo  Jones.  Laud 
writes  that  it  was  both  "  well  penned  and  acted."  "  The 
queen  liked  it  so  well,  that  she  afterwards  sent  to  me  to  have 
the  apparel  sent  to  Hampton  Court,  that  she  might  see  her 
own  players  act  it  over  again,  and  see  whether  they  could 
do  it  as  well  as  it  was  done  at  the  university.  I  caused  the 
University  to  send  both  the  clothes  and  the  properties  ;  and 
the  play  was  acted  in  the  November  following.  And  by  all 
men's  confession,  the  players  came  short  of  the  University 
actors.  Then  I  humbly  desired  the  King  and  Queen,  that 
neither  the  play  nor  stage  might  come  into  the  hands  and 
use  of  the  common  players  abroad,  which  was  graciously 
granted." 

The  next  morning,  Wednesday,  at  about  nine  o'clock,  the 
royal  party  and  the  court  left  Oxford.  The  total  cost  of  the 
two  nights'  entertainment  was  £2666,  is.  /d.1 

"  I  returned  homewards,  the  Day  after :  "  writes  Laud  in 
his  Diary;  '2  "  Having  first  entertained  all  the  Heads  of  Houses 
together." 

Laud  was  now  in  the  very  zenith  of  the  royal  favour ;  the 
king's  and  queen's  visit  to  Oxford  was  a  proof  of  it ;  yet,  six 
weeks  afterwards,  he  thinks  it  worth  while  to  write  in  his 
Diary: — "  Octob.  14.  Friday  Night,  I  Dreamed  marvellously, 
that  the  King  was  offended  with  me,  and  would  cast  me  off, 

1   "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1636,  Preface,  p.  xxx.  -  P.  53. 


270  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

and  tell  me  no  cause  why.  Avertat  Deus.  For  Cause  I  have 
given  none." 

The  poor  man's  nervous  anxiety  about  the  king's  favour 
appears  to  have  been  almost  a  disease  with  him  ;  it  seems  to 
have  been  as  great  as  that  which  he  suffered  concerning  the 
favour  of  Buckingham  during  the  life  of  that  all-powerful 
statesman. 

After  all,  in  congratulating  himself  upon  the  royal  visit  to 
Oxford,  and  in  reflecting  that,  as  we  say  now,  "  everything 
went  off  without  a  hitch,"  Laud  may  have  contrasted  it  with 
what  he  had  heard  of  the  visit  which  Queen  Elizabeth  paid 
to  Oxford  some  seventy  years  earlier,  and  seven  years  before 
his  own  birth,  when  the  students  greeted  her  with  loud  cries 
of  "  Vivat  Regina,"  as  she  drove  up  the  Cornmarket,  to  which 
she  replied  "  Gratias  ago,  gratias  ago."  He  may  have  re 
membered  hearing  that,  after  a  professor  had  made  a  Greek 
speech  to  her,  at  Carfax,  instead  of  remarking  to  her  attend 
ants  that  she  "  much  approved,"  she  had  replied  in  the  same 
language;  that,  although,  like  Charles  I.  and  Henrietta 
Maria,  she  had  been  entertained  with  several  plays,  she  had 
also  spent  long  hours  in  the  schools,  listening  to  learned 
discussions  on  science,  politics,  and  philosophy ;  and  that,  in 
stead  of  two  nights,  she  had  remained  five  at  Oxford,  leaving 
it  on  the  sixth  day,  and  reining  in  her  horse  on  Headington 
Hill  to  turn  round  and  exclaim  :  "  Farewell,  Oxford  !  Fare 
well,  my  good  subjects  there !  Farewell,  my  dear  scholars, 
and  may  God  prosper  your  studies  !  Farewell,  farewell !  " 1 

Altogether,  between  the  rumblings  of  distant  thunder  in 
the  political  atmosphere,  the  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
monarch  among  the  students  and  tradesmen,  the  attendance 
of  a  court  who  were  bored  to  death  by  a  play  that  had  the 
slightest  scholastic  tendency,  and  the  presence  of  a  queen 
whose  religion  prevented  her  from  attending  any  of  the  ser 
vices  in  that  very  "  churchy "  city,  King  Charles's  visit  to 
Oxford  was  decidedly  a  less  brilliant  affair  than  had  been 
that  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

1  Nicholl's  "  Progresses  of  Elizabeth,"  and  Froude's  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  viii 
chap.  x. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

LAUD  appears  to  have  been  very  well  received  by  the  Oxford 
dons  when  he  went  to  their  university  to  entertain  the  king 
and  queen  ;  but  a  few  months  earlier  there  had  been  a  slight 
strain  in  the  relations  between  them  and  their  chancellor. 
In  1635  he  had  endeavoured  to  establish  his  right  of  visita 
tion  at  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  in  the  character  of 
archbishop.  So  far  as  Oxford  and  his  own  personal  influence 
were  concerned,  he  had  little  to  gain  by  maintaining  it  ;  but 
he  was  a  great  stickler  for  the  rights  of  office,  and  made  it 
his  duty  to  claim  every  prerogative  pertaining  to  any  post  in 
which  he  had  an  interest,  whether  it  was  in  his  holding  or  in 
that  of  one  of  his  subordinates,  and  of  ecclesiastical  privileges 
he  was  more  jealous  than  of  any  other. 

Both  Oxford  and  Cambridge  stoutly  resisted  the  arch 
bishop's  claims  to  the  right  of  visiting  the  universities,  and  the 
matter  was  debated,  in  1636,  before  the  king  in  Council. 

Even  in  the  Middle  Ages,  there  had  been  some  uncertainty 
with  regard  to  the  relations  of  the  universities  to  the  Church, 
and  appeals  to  Rome  on  the  question  had  not  been  unfre- 
quent.  It  has  been  stated  that  no  real  archiepiscopal  visitation 
of  Oxford  had  ever  taken  place.  Huber,1  however,  asserts 
that  this  "  is  an  unfounded  boast,"  and  that  instances  occurred 
in  1276,  1284,  and  1384.  Sometime  between  1394  and  1397, 
a  Bull  was  put  forth  by  Pope  Boniface  IX.,  in  which  the 
words  were  used  : — "  By  the  power  of  these  presents  we  ex 
empt,  &c.,  from  all  jurisdiction,  dominion  and  power  of  any 
Archbishops  soever,  as  also  of  the  natural  [natorum]  Legates 
of  the  said  see  ;  likewise  of  all  Bishops,  and  other  ordinary 
Judges,  as  to  contracts  entered  into,  or  excesses,  crimes,  and 
misdemeanours  committed  beneath  the  limits,  &c."2  This 

1  "  Eng.  Univ.,"  vol.  ii.  part  ii.  p.  485.  2  Ib.t  p.  484. 

271 


272  Life  of  A rchbishop  Land. 

Bull  was  revoked  by  Pope  John  XXIII. ,  but  confirmed,  at 
least  to  some  extent,  by  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  Some  authorities 
ascribe  the  Bull  to  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  j1  but  the  Bull  of 
Pope  Sixtus  IV.  ascribes  it  expressly  to  Pope  Boniface  IX. 

When  the  Council  met  to  try  the  question  of  the  arch 
bishop's  rights,  Laud,  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  stood  at  the 
king's  right  hand  ;  on  the  left  was  Lord  Holland,  Chan 
cellor  of  Cambridge ;  the  Attorney-General  represented 
Laud  ;  the  Recorder  of  London  "  spake  for  Cambridge "  ; 
"  Sergeant  Thin  spake  for  the  University  of  Oxford."  2 

The  king  decided  in  favour  of  the  archbishop;  but  as 
Laud  never  made  a  visitation  at  either  university  in  the 
character  of  archbishop,  all  this  trouble  seemed  hardly 
worth  the  taking. 

During  the  same  year  in  which  he  triumphed  over  the  two 
leading  universities  on  this  point,  Laud  had  a  vexation  of 
a  more  private  character.  This  was  a  letter  from  Sir 
Kenelm  Digby  announcing  that  he  had  joined  the  Church  of 
Rome. 

Kenelm  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Everard  Digby,  who  had 
been  attainted  for  his  share  in  the  conspiracy  of  the  Gun 
powder  Plot.  He  was  scarcely  three  years  old  when  his 
father  expiated  his  crime  on  the  scaffold,  and  he  says  that  from 
that  father  he  "  inherited  nothing  but  a  foul  stain  in  his  blood 
for  attempting  to  make  a  fatal  revolution  in  this  state  "  ; 3  not 
that  this  was  strictly  true,  as  some  of  Sir  Everard's  property, 
worth  ^"3000  a  year,  was  entailed,  and  the  Crown  failed  in 
its  endeavour  to  wrest  it  from  his  son. 

Lady  Digby  was  a  Catholic;  but  Kenelm  was  taken  from 
her — whether  with  or  without  her  consent  is  not  very  clear 
— -and  placed  under  the  tuition  of  Laud,  who  was  at  that  time 
Dean  of  Gloucester.  Laud  held  the  Deanery  of  Gloucester 
from  1616  till  1620,  and,  as  Kenelm  Digby  was  born  in  1603 
and  was  sent  to  Oxford  in  his  fifteenth  year,  he  must  have 
been  put  under  Laud  in  his  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  year. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  Laud  brought  him  up  as  a  Protestant. 

1  "  Encyc,  Brit.,"  8th  ed.  vol.  xxi.  p.  454.  ~  Rushworth,  vol.  ii. 

3  "  Private  Memoirs  of  Sir  Kenelm  Digby." 


je  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  273 

He  writes  of  the  time  when  Kenelm  joined  the  Church  of 
England,  as  if  that  had  been  a  voluntary  matter :  one  would 
imagine  that  a  boy  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  would  be  a  convert 
easily  made  in  the  hands  of  a  strong-minded  and  determined 
ecclesiastic,  like  Laud,  who  would  be  certain  to  think  that 
the  rod  and  reproof  gave  wisdom.  In  the  letter  which  Laud 
wrote  to  his  former  pupil,  on  receiving  the  news  that  he  had 
become  a  Catholic,  he  says  l : — "  And  whereas  you  say,  that 
you  have  return'd  into  that  Communion,  who  (sic)  from  your 
Birth  had  right  of  possession  in  you,  and  therefore  ought  to 
continue  in  it,  unless  clear  and  evident  proof  (which  you  say 
surely  cannot  be  found)  should  have  evicted  you  from  it : 
Truly,  Sir,  I  think  this  had  been  spoken  with  more  advantage 
to  you  and  your  Cause,  before  your  adhering  to  the  Church 
of  England,  than  now  ;  for  then  right  of  possession  could  not 
have  been  thought  little.  But  now  since  you  deserted  that 
Communion,  either  you  did  it  upon  clear  and  evident  proof, 
or  upon  apparent  only." 

Is  there  not  something  supremely  absurd  in  writing  in  this 
strain  to  a  man  of  thirty-three,  and  upbraiding  him  for  seeing 
things  in  a  different  light,  at  that  age,  from  that  in  which  he 
had  regarded  them  at  thirteen,  or  thereabouts,  especially  as 
he  was  under  the  tuition  of  Laud  himself  at  the  earlier  period, 
when  a  boy  is  naturally  influenced  by  the  opinions  of  older 
men  ? 

Before  dealing  with  the  rest  of  Laud's  letter  to  Digby,  it 
may  be  well  to  say  that,  although  he  only  announced  his  re 
turn  to  the  faith  of  his  fathers  to  Laud  in  1636,  the  author  of 
the  Introduction  to  his  Memoirs  believes  that  he  really  was 
reconciled  to  the  Church  some  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
earlier,2  although  he  did  not  make  it  public  until  just  before 
writing  to  Laud.  This,  with  all  humility,  I  should  venture 
to  doubt. 

Three  years  before  he  wrote  to  announce  his  reconciliation, 

he   had    lost   his   wife,   the   famous    beauty,    Lady  Venetia, 

daughter   of  Sir  Edward   Stanley  ;    when  he  "  wore  a  long 

mourning  cloak,   a  high   cornered   hatt,   his   beard  unshorn, 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  613.  2  P.  Iv. 

S 


274  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvmhCent. 

look't  like  a  hermit,  as  signes  of  sorrowe  for  his  beloved 
wife." l  This  is  true  enough ;  for  great  is  the  contrast  be 
tween  the  carefully  curled  locks,  the  twisted  little  moustache 
and  small  tuft  beneath  the  lower  lip,  the  clean  shaven  cheeks 
and  chin,  the  richly  patterned  coat,  and  the  splendidly  em 
broidered  lace  collar,  in  his  earlier  portrait  by  Vandyke,  and 
the  wild  locks,  the  unkempt,  straggling  beard,  the  plain, 
almost  puritanical  white  collar,  and  the  austere  black  garment 
in  his  later  portrait  by  the  same  artist,  as  well  as  in  another 
attributed  to  Janssen,  both  of  which  were  painted  some  time 
after  his  wife's  death.  "  To  avoyd  envy  and  scandall,"  says 
Aubrey,  "  he  retired  into  Gresham  Colledge,  at  London,  where 
he  diverted  himselfe  with  his  chymystry,  and  the  professors 
good  conversation." 

His  studious  habits  would  recommend  themselves  to  Laud  ; 
so  also  would  his  devotion  to  his  king,  although  the  latter  once 
led  to  consequences  of  which  Laud  would  not  approve  ;  for, 
having  toasted  King  Charles  as  "  the  best  king  in  the  world," 
at  a  dinner  given  at  a  private  house  in  France,  a  certain 
"  French  lord  "  at  "  those  words  seemed  to  laugh,"  when  Sit 
Kenelm,  "thoroughly  moved  in  behalf  of  our  Sovereign  King 
Charles,"  challenged  him  to  fight,  and  "  ran  his  rapier  into 
the  French  lord's  breast  till  it  came  out  of  his  throat  again."2 

It  may  be  worthy  of  observation,  in  passing,  that  both 
Laud  and  another  contemporary  ecclesiastic  who  had  much 
influence  in  mundane  matters,  namely,  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
did  what  they  could  to  put  down  duelling.  Laud  imposed 
fines  in  the  Star  Chamber  ;  Richelieu  contrived  that  sterner 
measures  should  be  dealt  by  the  judges.  To  such  a  point 
had  duelling  risen  in  France,  that  Louis  XI II.,  in  the  course 
of  twenty  years,  signed  no  less  than  eight  thousand  letters  of 
pardon  to  duellists  who  had  sent  or  received  challenges."3 
Richelieu  determined  that  this  state  of  things  should  cease, 
and  after  the  Comte  de  Chapelle  and  the  Due  de  Bonteville 
had  fought  a  duel  on  the  Place  Royale  in  Paris,  they  were 

1  Aubrey's  "  Lives  of  Eminent  Men." 

2  A  very  rare  tract,  entitled  "  Sir  Kenelm  Digby's  honour  maintained,  &c." 

3  "Ency.  Britt.,"  8th  ed.  vol.  xix.  p.  163. 


e  Oj:  A rckbishop  Laud.  275 

both  tried  and  beheaded,  a  tragedy  which  had  the  effect  of 
sending  duelling  out  of  fashion  for  a  period  in  the  French 
capital. 

But  I  must  return  to  Laud  and  his  reply  to  Sir  Kenelm 
Digby's  letter  announcing  his  return  to  the  Catholic  Church. 

Whether  Laud  wrote  more  gently  on  account  of  the  de 
pression  of  spirits  which  hung  over  Digby  for  some  years 
after  the  death  of  his  wife,  a  wife  of  whom  Ben  Jonson 
wrote : — 

"In  all  her  petite  actions  so  devote, 
As  her  whole  life  was  now  become  one  note 
Of  piety  and  private  holiness  "  l 

(although  her  morality  had  been  more  than  questioned  before 
her  marriage),  I  cannot  hazard  an  opinion  ;  be  this  as  it 
may,  in  some  respects  the  letter  of  Laud  to  Sir  Kenelm 
Digby  might  well  serve  as  a  model  to  Protestants  when  they 
write  to  upbraid  a  friend  who  has  become  a  Catholic.  I 
suppose  that  most  converts,  soon  after  their  reception  into 
the  Church,  receive  a  sheaf  of  letters  couched  in  a  very 
different  spirit.  I  am,  myself,  the  possessor  of  some  choice 
specimens,  although  I  have  one,  also  written  by  an  Anglican 
Bishop,  which  surpasses  Laud's  in  kindness,  consideration, 
good  feeling,  and  charity. 

In  considering  Laud's  letter,  too,  we  must  remember  his 
own  temper  and  the  temper  of  the  times  ;  nor  should  we 
forget  that  Kenelm  Digby  had  been,  in  the  first  instance, 
induced  to  desert  the  Catholic  for  the  Anglican  Church  by 
Laud  himself,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 

He  begins-:  "  Salutem  in  Cliristo.  Worthy  Sir,  I  am 
sorry  for  all  the  Contents  of  your  Letter,  save  that  which 
expresses  your  Love  to  me."  Then  come  some  unimportant 
details  as  to  the  date  and  reception  of  another  letter  he  had 
lately  written  to  him. 

The  following  paragraph  begins  : — "  In  the  next  place,  I 
thank  you,  and  take  it  for  a  great  Testimony  of  your  Love 
to  me  ;  that  you  have  been  pleased  to  give  me  so  open  and 

1  "  Eupheme."  2  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  610. 


276  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

clear  Account  of  your  proceedings  with  your  self  in  this 
matter  of  Religion.  In  which  as  I  cannot  but  commend  the 
strict  reckoning,  to  which  you  have  called  your  self ;  so  I 
could  have  wish'd,  before  you  had  absolutely  setled  the 
Foot  of  that  Account,  you  would  have  called  in  some  Friend, 
and  made  use  of  his  Eye  as  a  By-stander,  who  sometimes 
sees  more  than  he  that  plays  the  Game.  You  write,  I 
confess,  that  after  you  had  fallen  upon  these  troublesom 
Thoughts,  you  were  nigh  two  Years  in  the  diligent  Discus 
sion  of  this  matter  ;  and  that  you  omitted  no  Industry,  either 
of  conversing  with  Learned  Men,  or  of  reading  the  best 
Authors,  to  beget  in  you  a  right  Intelligence  of  this  Subject. 
I  believe  all  this,  and  you  did  wisely  to  do  it.  But  I  have 
some  Questions,  out  of  the  freedom  of  a  Friend,  to  ask  about 
it.  Were  not  all  the  Learned  Men,  you  conversed  with  for  this 
Particular,  of  the  Roman  Party  ?  Were  not  the  best  Authors, 
you  mention,  of  the  same  Side  ?  "  And  a  few  lines  further 
on,  he  says  : — "  Why  was  I  (whom  you  are  pleased  to  Style 
one  of  your  best  Friends)  omitted  ?  True,  it  may  be,  you 
could  not  reckon  me  among  those  Learned  Men  and  Able 
for  Direction,  with  whom  you  conversed  :  Suppose  that ;  yet 
your  self  accounts  me  among  your  Friends.  And  is  it  not 
many  times  as  useful,  when  Thoughts  are  distracted,  to  make 
use  of  the  Freedom  and  Openness  of  a  Friend  not  altogether 
Ignorant,  as  of  those  which  are  thought  more  Learned  ;  but 
not  so  Free,  nor  perhaps  so  Indifferent  ? " 

There  is  something  exceeding  rich  in  the  idea  of  Laud  being 
called  in  to  act  the  part  of  a  disinterested  bye-stander,  on  the 
question  of  remaining  in  or  leaving  the  Church  of  England,  as 
by  law  established.  The  principal  argument  used  in  the  letter 
is  that  already  quoted,  namely,  that  if  he  left  the  Church  of 
Rome  for  good  reasons,  those  reasons  still  held  good.  This 
he  harps  upon,  again  and  again,  and  repeats  in  different 
forms  and  language. 

Further  on  he  says  : — "  The  Temper  of  your  Mind  (you  say) 
arms  you  against  all  Censures,  no  slight  Air  of  Reputation 
being  able  to  move  you.  In  this,  I  must  needs  say,  you  are 
happy.  For  he  that  can  be  moved  from  himself  by  the 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  277 

changeable  Breath  of  Men,  lives  more  out  of  than  in  himself; 
and  (which  is  a  Misery  beyond  all  expression)  must  in  all 
Doubts  go  to  other  Men  for  Resolution  ;  not  to  himself;  as  if 
he  had  no  Soul  within  him.  But  yztpost  Conscientiam  Fama. 
And  though  I  would  not  desire  to  live  by  Reputation ;  yet 
would  I  leave  no  good  means  untried,  rather  than  live  with 
out  it.  And  how  far  you  have  brought  your  self  in  question, 
which  of  these  two,  Conscience  or  Reputation,  you  have 
shaken  by  this  double  Change,  I  leave  yourself  to  judge ; 
because  you  say  your  first  was  with  a  semblance  of  very 
good  Reason.  And  though  you  say  again,  That  it  now 
appears  you  were  then  mis-led  ;  yet  you  will  have  much  ado 
to  make  the  World  think  so." 

And  then  came  a  passage  for  which  all  praise  is  due  to 
Laud.  Generally  speaking,  Protestants  criticise  severely  the 
time  and  the  manner  chosen  by  their  convert  friends  for 
seeking  reception  into  the  Church.  "  There  was  trickery  in 
his  mode  of  taking  the  step,  or  inconsiderateness  towards  the 
feelings  of  others,"  says  Newman.1  "  They  went  too  soon,  or 
they  ought  to  have  gone  sooner.  They  ought  to  have  told 
every  one  their  doubts  as  soon  as  ever  they  felt  them,  and 
before  they  knew  whether  they  should  overcome  them  or  no." 
Not  so  Laud  !  He  continues — 

"  The  way  you  took  in  concealing  this  your  Resolution  of 
returning  into  the  Communion,  and  the  Reasons  which  you 
give  why  you  so  privately  carried  it  here,  I  cannot  but 
approve.  They  are  full  of  all  Ingenuity,  tender  and  civil 
Respects,  fitted  to  avoid  Discontent  in  your  Friends,  and 
Scandal  that  might  be  taken  by  others,  or  Contumely  that 
might  be  returned  upon  your  self.  And  as  are  these  Reasons, 
so  is  the  whole  frame  of  your  Letter  (setting  aside  that  I 
cannot  concur  in  Judgment)  full  of  Discretion  and  Temper, 
and  so  like  your  self,  that  I  cannot  but  love  even  that  which 
I  dislike  in  it." 

Further  on  he  writes  : — "  To  the  Moderation  of  your  own 

heart,  under  the  Grace  of  God,  I  must  and  do  now  leave  you 

or   matter  of   Religion ;    but  retaining   still   with   me,    and 

1  "  Present  Position  of  Catholics,"  p.  243. 


278  Life  of  A  rchbishop  L aud.  !$£?<£*' 

entirely,  all  the  Love  and  Friendliness  which  your  Worth 
won  from  me ;  well  knowing,  that  all  Differences  in  Opinion 
shall  not  shake  the  Foundations  of  Religion." 

He  concludes  by  saying  : — "  In  the  last  place  you  promise 
yourself,  That  the  Condition  you  are  in,  will  not  hinder  me 
from  continuing  to  be  the  Best  Friend  you  have.  To  this  I 
can  say  no  more,  than  that  I  could  never  arrogate  to  my  self 
to  be  your  Best  Friend ;  but  a  poor  yet  respective  Friend  of 
yours  I  have  been,  ever  since  I  knew  you  :  And  it  is  not 
Change,  that  can  change  me,  who  never  yet  left,  but  where  I 
was  first  forsaken  ;  and  not  always  there.  So  praying  for 
God's  blessing  upon  you,  and  in  that  Way  which  he  knows 
most  necessary  for  you,  I  rest.  Your  very  Loving  Friend  to 
serve  you  in  Domino'' 

In  a  short  postscript,  he  adds  : — "  I  have  writ  this  Letter 
freely  ;  I  shall  look  upon  all  the  Trust  that  you  mean  to 
carry  with  me,  that  you  shew  it  not,  nor  deliver  any  Copy  to 
any  Man."  (Laud  kept  a  copy  of  it  himself.)  "  Nor  will  I 
look  for  any  Answer  to  the  Queries  I  have  herein  made.  If 
they  do  you  any  good,  I  am  glad  ;  if  not,  yet  I  have  satisfied 
my  self."  And  finally  he  apologises  for  making  "  a  Volume 
of  a  Letter." 

The  tone  and  spirit  of  this  letter  are  so  excellent  as  to 
make  me  almost  doubt  whether  even  his  friend  and  admirer, 
Clarendon,  did  not  sometimes  write  a  little  too  hardly  of  him. 

The  mutual  promises  of  Digby  and  Laud  to  remain  friends, 
in  spite  of  the  former's  return  to  the  Catholic  Church,  were 
no  mere  vain,  conventional  civilities.  These  two  men  had 
still  much  in  common,  as  well  they  might,  since  Digby  had 
"  studied  almost  every  branch  of  human  science,"  and  "  as 
a  philosopher,"  "  an  orator,  a  courtier,  a  soldier,  his  exquisite 
talents  are  alike  conspicuous ;  " l  and,  as  one  of  his  con 
temporaries  said  of  him,  "he  was  the  magazine  of  all  arts."  2 
That  they  continued  on  a  friendly  footing  is  shown  in  a  letter 
which  Digby  wrote  to  the  Keeper  of  the  Oxford  University 
Archives,  after  Laud's  death,  in  which  he  says : — "  As  I  was 
one  day  waiting  on  the  late  king,  my  master,  1  told  him  of  a 

1  Intro,  to  "Memoirs,"  p.  Ixxvi.  2  Ib.,  p.  Ixxviii. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  279 

collection  of  choice  Arabic  manuscripts  I  was  sending  after 
my  Latin  ones  to  the  University.  My  Lord  of  Canterbury 
(that  was  present)  wished  they  might  go  along  with  a  parcel 
that  he  was  sending  to  St  John's  College  :  whereupon  I  sent 
them  to  his  Grace,  &c.,  &c."  "  The  troubles  of  the  times  soon 
followed  my  sending  these  trunks  of  books  to  Lambeth-house, 
and  I  was  banished  out  of  the  land,  and  returned  not  till  my 
lord  was  dead,  &c."  x 

A  still  greater  proof  of  his  good  feeling  towards  Laud  is  to 
be  found  in  Laud's  own  writings.  In  his  account  of  his  trial,2 
he  says  : — "  My  Servant,  Mr  Edw.  LentJirop,  came  to  me  and 
told  me,  that  the  day  before  he  met  with  K.  Digbye,  who  had 
the  leave  to  go  out  of  Prison  (by  the  Suit  of  the  Frencli 
Queen],  and  to  Travel  into  France.  But  before  he  took  his 
Journey,  he  was  to  come  before  a  Committee,  and  there  (he 
said)  he  had  been.  It  seems  it  was  some  Committee  about 
my  Business  ;  for  he  told  Mr  Lenthrop,  and  wished  him  to  tell 
it  me,  that  the  Committee  took  special  notice  of  his  Acquaint 
ance  with  me,  and  Examined  him  strictly  concerning  me 
and  my  Religion,  whether  he  did  not  know,  that  I  was  offer'd 
to  be  made  a  Cardinal ;  and  many  other  such  like  things. 
That  he  Answer'd  them,  That  he  knew  nothing  of  any  Car 
dinal-ship  offer'd  me  ;  And  for  my  Religion  he  had  Reason  to 
think,  I  was  truly  and  really  as  I  professed  myself;  for  I  had 
laboured  with  him  against  his  return  to  the  Church  of  Rome : 
(Which  is  true,  and  I  have  some  of  my  papers  yet  to  shew.) 
But  he  farther  sent  me  word,  that  their  Malice  was  great 
against  me  ;  though  he  saw  plainly,  they  were  like  Men  that 
groped  in  the  Dark,  and  were  to  seek  what  to  lay  to  my 
Charge." 

And  here  we  take  leave  of  this  clever  and  eccentric  char 
acter,  who  was  courtier,  statesman,  soldier,  diplomatist,  chemist, 
Protestant,  Catholic,  Royalist,  Parliamentarian,  duellist,  theo 
logian,  author,  and  philosopher,  at  one  time  or  another. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  because  Laud  wrote  civilly  to 
Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  on  his  conversion,  and  remained  his  friend 
after  it,  that  he  was  universally  tender-hearted  towards  con- 

1  Aubrey's  "  Letters,"  No.  I.  ~  P.  209. 


280  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

verts  or  old  Catholics.  On  the  contrary,  he  did  all  in  his 
power  to  prevent  conversions,  as,  indeed,  one  would  expect 
that  he  should  have  done,  if  he  honestly  believed  the  Anglican 
to  be  the  true  Church  of  Christ.  Who  shall  blame  him  ? 
Even  the  late  Cardinal  Manning,  a  few  years  before  his  own 
conversion,  being  then  an  Anglican  Archdeacon,  persuaded  a 
very  young  and  recent  convert  to  return  to  the  Church  of 
England,  although  both  afterwards  became  distinguished 
ecclesiastics  in  the  Church  of  Rome. 

In  respect  to  possible  converts,  Laud  kept  a  specially  sharp 
and  anxious  eye  upon  Oxford  undergraduates,  and  made 
searching  inquiries  whether  any  of  them  showed  signs  o  f 
what  are  termed  in  these  days,  "  Romish  leanings."  H 
once  received  information — I  fear  that  he  was  not  above 
employing  spies — that  a  letter  had  been  found,  addressed  to 
a  Mr  Fisher  in  Clerkenwell — this  may  have  been  the  Fisher 
of  Laud's  controversy ;  unless,  which  is  not  impossible,  the 
whole  thing  was  a  hoax — asking  whether  "  he  knows  one  or 
two,  who  for  religion's  sake  are  desirous  to  be  entered  in 
some  order  beyond  the  seas,  especially  that  of  fratrum 
minorum,  or  Jesuits."  l  The  reply  was  to  be  directed  "  to  one 
Richard  Pulley"  in  St  John's  College  in  Oxford. 

A  Catholic  recusant  in  Laud's  own  favourite  college ! 
This  was  very  shocking. 

He  wrote  at  once  to  his  vice-chancellor: — "If  there  be 
such  a  man  as  Fully  here  mentioned,  be  sure  to  make  him 
fast ;  "  and  he  was  also  ordered  to  inquire  whether  "  any 
Jesuits,  or  others,  have  lain  hankering  up  and  down  there 
abouts." 

The  vice-chancellor  reported  that  there  was  a  scholar  of 
a  name  not  unlike  Fully  at  St  John's.  Modern  under 
graduates  may  be  a  little  surprised  at  hearing  how  the  vice- 
chancellor  set  about  the  delicate  task  of  ascertaining  this 
youth's  religious  views. 

"  I  set  a  spy  upon  him,"  he  says.  "  On  Friday  morning  I 
took  him  coming  from  prayers  in  the  quadrangle,  where  I 
might  see  how  he  behaved  himself  at  citation.  I  instantly 

1  "Lib.  of  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  vol.  v.  p.  180. 


xvnth  cent.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  281 

searched  his  pockets,  took  his  keys  of  study  and  trunk 
from  him,  searched  them  (he  staying  in  my  lodging).  I 
looked  over  every  book  and  paper ;  I  found  nothing  that 
might  give  the  least  suspicion  that  he  is  inclined  towards 
popery." 

It  might  be  supposed  that  this  would  more  than  satisfy 
Laud  ;  but  he  replies  : — "  You  cannot  carry  too  careful  an  eye, 
either  over  Pullen  or  the  rest  ;  for  certainly  some  are  about 
that  place  to  seduce  as  many  as  they  can."  In  the  same 
letter,  he  admonishes  his  vice-chancellor  rather  sharply 
concerning  another  little  matter  connected  with  Popery. 

Chillingworth  was  bringing  out  a  book  against  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  it  was  just  then  going  through  the  Oxford  press, 
which  was  under  the  control  of  the  vice-chancellor.  Now  a 
certain  Jesuit,  who  went  by  the  name  of  Knott  (his  real  name 
was  Wilson),  intended  to  write  a  book  in  reply,  called  "A 
direction  to  N.  N.,  being  an  admonition  to  Mr  Chillingworth 
to  attend  to  his  own  arguments."  l  Laud,  in  his  letter  to  the 
vice-chancellor,  says  that  he  has  reason  for  believing  that 
Father  Knott  is  privately  obtaining,  from  some  workman  at 
the  Oxford  printing-press,  proof  sheets  of  Chillingworth's 
book  "  as  they  are  done."  "  I  know,"  he  says,  "  the  Jesuits 
are  very  cunning  at  these  tricks  ;  but  if  you  have  no  more 
hold  over  your  printers,  than  that  the  press  must  lie  thus 
open  to  their  corruption,  I  shall  take  a  sourer  course,  than 
perhaps  is  expected.  For  though  perhaps  they  go  so 
cunningly  to  work,  as  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  make  a 
legal  proof  of  this  foul  misdemeanour  ;  yet  "  (if)  "  I  find  that 
Knott  makes  a  more  speedy  answer  than  is  otherwise 
possible,  without  seeing  of  the  sheets,  I  shall  take  that  for 
proof  enough,  and  proceed  to  discommission  your  printer, 
and  suppress  his  press." 

This  was  stern  language  and  a  stern  threat  to  use  to  a  vice- 
chancellor  of  the  great  University  of  Oxford,  even  from  the  pen 
of  the  chancellor  himself.  He  clearly  kept  his  vice-chancellor 
well  up  to  the  mark  in  respect  to  any  danger  of  Catholicising 
influences  at  Oxford  ;  for  three  years  later,  that  official  wrote 

1  "  Records  of  the  Eng.  Province,  S.J.,"  series  I,  p.  540. 


282  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

to  him  1: — "We  have  an  inn  in  the  High  Street  called  The 
Mitre,  which  is  the  general  rendezvous  of  all  the  recusants, 
not  in  this  shire  only,  but  in  the  whole  kingdom,  that  have 
any  business  to  Oxford.  Seldom  are  they  there  without 
some  scholars  in  their  company,  upon  pretence  or  acquaint 
ance."  "  The  host  a  professed  papist."  "  His  house  hath  a 
back  gate  towards  Lincoln  College,  where  most  of  the  guests 
privately  enter,  and  is  near  neighboured  by  many  recusants." 
"  I  only  give  your  grace  the  naked  relation." 

To  this  terrible  revelation  Laud  replied — "  I  like  it  much 
worse,  because  there  is  such  a  private  back  way  to  the  inn 
as  you  mention."  He  says,  however,  that  as  the  inn  is  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  town  authorities  and  not  of  the  uni 
versity,  he  has  no  power  to  interfere.  Nevertheless,  he 
proposes  "  to  follow  it  close,  till  all  be  done  which  may  be 
done  by  law." 

The  vice-chancellor  must  have  known  as  well  as  Laud 
that  he  was  powerless  in  the  matter,  and,  as  there  was  great 
ill-feeling  towards  the  university  authorities  on  the  part  of 
the  town  authorities,  it  would  be  as  likely  as  not  that  the 
latter  would  rather  rejoice  in  anything  calculated  to  annoy 
Laud,  and  secretly,  if  not  openly,  encourage  it. 

It  was  not  only  at  Oxford  that  the  "  Romish  Recusants  " 
were  disporting  themselves  and  vexing  the  soul  of  Laud. 
Great  must  have  been  his  annoyance,  in  the  year  1636,  at 
hearing  of  the  brilliant  success  of  the  opening  of  the  queen's 
new  chapel  at  Somerset  House.2  Even  the  laying  of  the 
foundation  stone  had  been  a  grand  affair ;  when  "  the  plot 
on  which  the  chapel  was  to  stand  was  very  tastefully  fitted 
up  in  the  form  of  a  church  ;  rich  tapestry  served  for  walls  ; 
the  most  costly  stuffs  for  roof;  the  floor  strewed  with  flowers." 
"  At  the  further  end  was  seen  an  altar,  garnished  with  mag 
nificent  ornaments,  with  large  chandeliers  of  silver  gilt,  and 
with  a  great  number  of  vases."  High  mass  was  celebrated, 
"  while  harmonious  music  ravished  the  heart.  The  concourse 

1  "Lib.  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  vol.  v.  part  i.  p.  269. 

2  I  take  my  account  of  it  from  Fr.  Cyprien's   "  Memoirs  of  the  Missions  in 
England  of  the  Capuchin  Friars,  1630  to  1669,"  Colburn's  ed.,  pp.  308-314. 


Stca63l636']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  283 

of  people  was  so  great,  that  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  inhabitants 
of  London  had  concerted  to  attend  this  noble  ceremony. 
Mass  being  finished,  her  Majesty  was  conducted  by  the 
ambassador  to  the  place  where  she  was  to  lay  the  first 
stone,  &c.,  &c." 

This  alone  must  have  been  highly  calculated  to  provoke 
Laud,  especially  when  such  stringent  laws  were  in  force 
against  English  Catholics  ;  but  it  must  have  been  nothing  to 
his  vexation  when  he  heard  the  details,  as  he  assuredly 
would,  of  the  opening  of  the  chapel  when  built. 

High  Mass  was  celebrated  "  with  all  possible  pomp  and 
magnificence  "  by  the  Bishop  of  Angouleme,  and  for  the  first 
time  "pontifically "  in  England  "  for  about  one  hundred 
years."  "  A  multitude  of  Catholics  thronged  to  receive  the 
Holy  Communion  from  the  hands  of  the  bishop." 

After  dinner  there  were  vespers,  compline,  and  sermon, 
and  there  was  "  a  machine," — there  is  a  long  description  of 
it,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  an  arrangement  of  decorations 
and  candles, — "which  was  admired  by  the  most  ingenious 
person,  to  exhibit  the  Holy  Sacrament,  and  to  give  it  a  more 
majestic  appearance." 

"Those  who  were  in  the  chapel  had  great  difficulty  to 
leave  it  on  account  of  the  crowd  of  people  who  were  bent  on 
forcing  their  way  in."  "The  crush  lasted  so  long  that  it 
was  impossible  to  close  the  doors  of  the  church  till  the  third 
night,"  when  the  king  desired  to  come  to  see  it  himself. 
"  Accordingly,  he  went  thither,  attended  by  his  grand  marshal, 
the  comptroller  of  his  household,  and  some  other  gentlemen. 
He  admired  the  composition,  kept  his  eyes  fixed  on  it  for  a 
very  long  time,  &c." 

Not  only  Catholics,  but  Protestants  "  never  ceased  coming 
in  crowds  from  all  parts  to  behold  this  wonder."  "  From  the 
8th  of  December,  the  day  consecrated  to  the  immaculate  con 
ception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  queen  with  great  prudence, 
ordered  the  chapel  to  be  left  with  all  its  decorations  till 
Christmas." 

"  From  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  there  were  successively 
masses,  and  in  general  communions,  till  noon."  The  "  con- 


284  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

fessionals  were  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  penitents."  "  Persons 
were  obliged  to  wait  two  or  three  hours  before  they  could 
enter  a  confessional." 

Imagine  how  galling  it  must  have  been  to  Laud  to  hear  of 
all  this  at  a  time  when  he  could  not  even  induce  a  large 
number  of  the  clergy  in  his  own  archdiocese  to  turn  their 
communion-tables  "altarwise,"  or  some  of  the  laity  to  kneel 
when  receiving  communion ! 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

IN  the  last  chapter  I  showed  that  Laud  was  much  put  out  at 
the  prospect  of  a  book  by  Father  Knott,  S.J.,  whom  Oliver 
calls  "  a  man  of  transcendent  talents  and  vigour  of  intellect."  l 
In  the  same  year  he  was  greatly  worried  about  a  book  by  an 
other  Catholic.  This  was  that  standard  and  beautiful  work, 
An  Introduction  to  a  Devout  Life,  by  St  Frangois  de  Sales.  A 
greater  contrast  than  that  between  the  style  of  devotional 
writing  of  this  saint  and  the  style  of  Laud  it  would  be  difficult 
to  imagine.  How  this  worry  came  about  Laud  shall  tell  us 
for  himself.2 

"  There  was  an  English  translation  of  a  book  of  devotion, 
written  by  Sales,  Bishop  of  Geneva,  and  entitled  Praxis 
Spiritualis  sive  introdnctio  ad  vitam  devotam,  licensed  by  Dr 
Hayward,  then  my  chaplain,  about  the  latter  end  of  November 
last ;  but  before  it  passed  his  hands,  he  first  struck  out  divers 
things  wherein  it  varies  from  the  doctrine  of  our  Church, 
and  so  passed  it." 

Lingard  says 3  that,  among  other  alterations,  he  changed 
the  word  "  mass,"  wherever  it  occurred,  for  "  divine  service." 

"  But  by  the  practice  of  one  Burrowes,"  continues  Laud, 
("  who  is  now  found  to  be  a  Roman  Catholic,)  those  passages 
struck  out  by  Dr  Hayward  were  interlined  afterwards  (as 
appears  upon  examination  before  Mr  Attorney- General,  and 
by  the  manuscript  copy),  and  were  printed  according  to 
Burrowes's  falsifications." 

To  call  the  restoration  of  the  original,  "  falsifications,"  is 
really  a  magnificent  piece  of  bare-faced  casuistry !  although, 
of  course,  the  printer  would  be  quite  unjustified  in  making 
such  a  restoration  under  the  circumstances.  But  to  continue. 

J   "  Collectanea  SJ."  2  "  Libr.  of  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  vol.  v.  part  i. 

3  Vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 

285 


286  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txviithcent. 

"  The  book  being  thus  printed  gave  great  and  just  offence, 
especially  to  myself." 

In  the  account  of  his  own  trial1  he  says: — "The  Complaint 
of  Printing  this  Book  came  publickly  into  the  Star  Chamber. 
And  then  was  the  first  time  that  I  ever  heard  of  it."  "  The 
whole  thing,"  says  he,  "  was  a  meer  Plot  of  this  Recusant,  if 
not  Priest,  to  have  Sales  Printed,  with  all  his  Points  of  Popery 
in  him." 

It  is  well  to  hear  both  sides  in  most  cases,  so  we  will  read 
the  evidence 2  of  "  Mary,  widow  of  John  Gates,"  who  "  attestes 
that  her  husband  about  seven  years  since  printed  part  of  a 
book  intitled  Francis  Salis' "  (Sale's)  "  Introduction  to  a 
Devout  Life,  licensed  by  Dr  Haywood,"  (Hayward)  "chaplain 
to  Archbishop  Laud,  for  the  press.  Finding  some  Popish 
passages  not  fit  for  the  press  as  he  conceived,  Oakes  carried 
the  same  to  Haywood,  who  told  him  to  go  on  and  print  the 
same,  and  he  would  bear  him  out  therein.  When  the  book 
was  published  exceptions  were  taken  to  these  passages,  and 
the  book  ordered  to  be  burnt  in  Smithfield,  which  was  done. 
Oakes  was  thereupon  sent  for  and  imprisoned  about  three 
weeks,  and  the  fault  put  upon  him  and  the  publisher,  as  if 
they  had  put  those  passages  into  the  licensed  copy  when  Dr 
Haywood  had  purged  them  out,  whereas  in  truth  he  com 
manded  the  passages  to  be  put  in  and  stand  as  they  were  in 
the  copy  brought  to  the  press,  which  was  proved  before  Sir 
Edward  Deering  at  a  Committee  this  Parliament." 

Of  this  evidence,  I  would  say  in  the  first  place  that,  at 
worst,  it  scarcely  affects  the  reputation  of  Laud  who,  as  he 
says,  knew  nothing  about  the  matter  until  it  came  before  the 
Star  Chamber.  Dr  Haywood  was  the  person  whom  it  most 
concerned  ;  and  even  on  his  behalf  it  may  be  said  that  it  was 
but  second-hand  evidence  given  through  the  widow  of  the 
actual  witness  ;  yet  she  gives  that  evidence  very  plainly  and 
straightforwardly.  If  Burrows,  who  appears  to  have  been  the 
publisher,  was  the  author  of  the  "  falsifications,"  why  did  not 
Oates,  or  Oakes,  lay  the  blame  on  him  instead  of  on  Dr 
Haywood  ?  Is  it  likely,  again,  that  Burrows  would  have 

1  P.  363.  -  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1641-3,  p.  550. 


37']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  287 

thought  it  worth  his  while  to  incur  the  penalties  which  would 
certainly  befall  him,  if  he  tampered  with  his  employer's 
"  copy "  before  entrusting  it  to  the  hands  of  his  printer. 
And  I  would  ask  any  fair-minded  person  to  consider  whether 
a  modern  Catholic  publisher  or  printer,  if  commissioned  by  a 
Protestant  to  produce  a  garbled  edition  of  a  Catholic  book, 
would  think  that  he  could  serve  the  interests  of  his  own 
religion  by  correcting  it  according  to  the  original,  in  defiance 
of  the  instructions  of  the  editor,  although  he  would  be  in  no 
danger  from  a  Star  Chamber  ? 

The  system  of  printing  books  by  Catholics  without  all 
their  "Points  of  Popery  in"  them,  unfortunately  did  not  cease 
with  Laud's  time.  I  have  often  heard  a  Protestant  say — "  It 
is  remarkable  how  little  mention  a  good  man  like  - 
(mentioning  some  Catholic  writer)  "makes  of  the  Virgin  !  So 
unlike  the  modern  Romanist  writers  ! "  Whereas  his  books 
are  in  reality  full  of  allusions  to  Our  Lady,  of,  what 
Protestants  call,  "  the  most  extravagant  kind "  ;  but  they 
have  every  one  of  them  been  carefully  excised  in  the  edition 
"  adapted  to  the  use  of  English  Churchmen."  If  our  books 
are  to  be  read  at  all,  they  ought  to  be  read  as  their  authors 
wrote  them.  In  short,  they  should  be  read  in  the  "  falsified  " 
editions,  as  Laud  would  say ;  that  is,  in  the  original. 

As  has  already  appeared  by  Mrs  Oates's  evidence,  the 
sequel  of  "  Sale's  "  book  was  that  Laud  called  in  every  copy 
that  could  be  laid  hands  on — some  eleven  or  twelve  hundred 
in  all — and  had  them  publicly  burned  in  Smithfield. 

His  zeal  in  this,  and  the  other  matters  connected  with 
Catholicism,  which  I  have  mentioned  in  this  and  the  preced 
ing  chapter,  was  probably  stimulated  by  the  "  libels "  that 
were  just  then  so  freely  promulgated  against  him,  as  an 
abettor  of  Popery. 

He  writes  to  Wentworth,1  boasting  of  the  burning  of  The 
Devout  Life,  and  also  of  the  arrest  and  trial  of  Father  Morse, 
a  Jesuit  priest,  who  had  distinguished  himself  by  his  charity 
in  attending  to  the  sick  during  the  outbreak  of  a  contagious 
fever  in  St  Giles's.  Indeed,  he  himself  signed  the  warrant 

1  "  Strafford  Papers,"  ii.  74. 


288  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [I™;637' 

for  his  commitment  to  the  Keeper  of  Newgate,  on  March  26, 
1637.  "  Theis  are  to  will  and  require  you  to  receave  into  yr 
custody  the  p'son  of  Henry  Morse,  a  Romish  priest,  herewith- 
all  sent  vnto  yow  ;  and  to  keepe  him  safe  prisoner  vnder  your 
charge  in  the  prison  of  Newgate,  vntill  further  order  from 
this  boarde.  For  which  this  shall  be  your  Warrant.  Dated  at 
Whitehall,  ye  26  of  March,  1637  W.  Cant"1  (and  other  names). 

When  he  was  first  arrested,  Father  Morse  was  shut  up  in  a 
room  by  himself,  and  he  "  consumed  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
which  he  was  at  that  time  carrying  to  the  dying,  with  all  the 
reverence  possible  under  the  circumstances,  though  not  fast 
ing,  to  prevent  Its  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  heretics  ;  he 
also  hid  the  pyx  as  well  as  he  was  able."  '* 

No  doubt  he  expected,  nor  without  good  reason,  that 
searchers  would  come  in  presently  and  examine  all  his 
pockets  and  garments,  and  that,  if  they  found  the  host,  they 
would  carry  it  off  with  his  other  effects.  Possibly  they  might 
have  "  filed  "  it,  as  the  lawyers  for  the  plaintiff  in  a  famous 
modern  ritual  case  filed  a  wafer  which  had  been  received,  but 
not  consumed,  at  the  communion-rails  of  a  certain  "  high " 
church,  and  carried  off  and  "  put  in  "  as  evidence  by  one  of 
their  witnesses. 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that,  at  the  earnest  intercession  of 
Henrietta  Maria,  who  had  supplied  him  with  food  and  money 
when  he  was  visiting  the  sick,  Father  Morse  was  respited  by 
the  king.  No  thanks  to  Laud  for  this !  The  discharge 
begins : — "  Whereas  at  the  instance  of  our  deerest  consort 
the  Queene,  wee  have  bene  pleased  to  grant  that  Henry 
Morse,"  &c.,  "  shal  be  enlarged,  &c."  3 

Curiously  enough,  one  of  the  charges  against  Laud,  at  his 
own  trial,  was  "  his  holding  correspondence  with  Papists  and 
Jesuits,  and  amongst  others  .  .  .  Henry  Morse  who  had 
seduced  five  hundred  and  odd  in  Westminster,"  4 — a  most 
groundless  accusation. 

1  "  Records  of  the  Eng.  Prov.,  SJ.,"  series  i,  p.  606.  2  Ib.t  p.  578. 

3  S.  P.  Dom.  Chas.  I.,  vol.  ccclxii.  No.  6. 

4  London's    Intelligencer.,    July    17    to    25,    1644.        Brit.    Museum,    King's. 
Pamphlets,  No.  167. 


7']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  289 

Laud  was  somewhat  hard  pressed  to  proceed  against  Father 
Morse  by  the  petition  of  the  rector  and  church-wardens  of  St 
Giles's-in-the-fields,  who  complained  that  people  in  their 
parish  who  "  before  that  tyme  were  Protestants,  but  in  this 
weeknes  "  [the  outbreak  of  fever]  were  "  p'verted  by  Morse 
to  the  Romish  Church  "  and  "  dyed  soe."  They  humbly  left 
the  "  reformacon  to  your  lopPs  grave  wisdomes."  1 

A  few  years  later,  Father  Morse  was  again  arrested,  con 
victed  of  being  a  priest,  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered ;  but 
not  before  Laud's  own  head  had  fallen  upon  the  scaffold. 

Laud  kept  a  sharp  eye  upon  the  queen's  own  private  chapel. 
Perhaps  the  accounts  of  that  grand  opening  ceremony,  the 
crowded  confessionals,  and  the  communions  at  nearly  every 
mass  from  6  A.M.  till  noon,  may  still  have  rankled  in  his 
bosom.  In  1636,  Mr  E.  R.  writes  to  Puckering2: — "One  of 
those  two  priests  I  mentioned  in  my  last  was  clapped  up  by 
my  lord's  grace  "  (Archbishop  Laud),  "  because  he  preached 
the  sermon  the  Sunday  before  in  the  queen's  chapel  in  Somer 
set  House,  that  place  being  only  allowed  to  the  queen's  chap 
lains,  and  not  to  any  other  priests,  especially  any  English 
priests.  The  other  was  committed  for  company  ;  his  fault 
was  his  being  a  popish  priest." 

"  His  fault  was  his  being  a  popish  priest  "  is  a  remark  very 
much  to  the  point,  and  shows  that  the  law  which  made  it  a 
criminal  offence  to  be  a  priest  was  not  allowed  to  lie  dormant. 
It  also  proves  that  the  sufferings  of  such  men  were  solely  on 
account  of  their  religion. 

Laud  showed  his  anti-Papal  zeal  also  against  the  laity, 
as  well  as  priests,  in  1637.  There  is  an  entry  in  his 
Diary3 — "A  great  Noise  about  the  perverting  of  the  Lady 
Newport :  Speech  of  it  at  the  Council :  My  free  Speech  there 
to  the  King,  concerning  the  increase  of  the  Roman  party, 
the  Freedom  at  Denmark  House,  the  Carriage  of  Mr  Wai- 
Montague"  [this  was  a  converted  son  of  the  Earl  of  Man 
chester,  who  occupied  several  diplomatic  appointments,  and 
eventually  became  abbot  of  the  rich  abbey  of  Pontoise — 

1  S.  1*.  Dom.  Charles  I.,  vol.  cccxxxi.  No.  93. 

2  "Court  and  Times  of  Charles  I.,"  vol.  ii.  p.  237.  3  P.  55. 

T 


2QO  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid. 

"  Milord  Montaigu,  abbe  de  Pontoise  " 1 — but  he  was  more, 
than  abbe\  being,  as  I  said,  abbot]  "  and  Sir  TJwby  Matthews, 
The  Queen  acquainted  with  all  I  said  that  very  Night,  and 
highly  displeased  with  me  ;  and  so  continues."  This  took 
place  in  October.  In  December,  he  writes  : — "  I  had  Speech 
with  the  Queen  a  good  space,  and  all  about  the  Business  of 
Mr  Montague,  but  we  parted  fair."  "  Fair  "  sounds  rather  a 
dubious  footing  on  which  to  leave  the  presence  of  a  queen  ; 
although  the  word  may  have  meant  more  in  those  days  than 
it  does  at  present. 

Rushwood's  account  of  the  Sir  Thoby  Matthews,  above  men 
tioned,  is  not  unamusing.2  "  Sir  Toby  Matthew,  a  Jesuit,  of  the 
Order  of  Politicians,  who  was  so  vigilant  that  he  never  entr'd 
a  Bed,  but  only  slept  an  hour  or  two  in  a  Chair,  imploy'd 
himself  Day  and  Night  in  Contrivances.  This  person  was  a 
peculiar  Plague  to  the  King  and  Kingdom,  thrusting  himself 
continually  into  the  Company  of  his  Superiors  and  others  to 
fish  out  their  minds,  which  he  imparted  to  the  Pope's  Legate, 
to  the  Pope  himself,  or  to  Cardinal  Barberini." 

We  come  now  to  a  difficult  point  in  relation  to  Laud's 
treatment  of  Catholics,  namely,  the  question  of  how  far  he 
influenced  Wentworth  in  his  harsh  action  towards  them  in 
Ireland.  It  would  be  most  unfair  to  saddle  the  memory  of 
Laud  with  every  cruel  oppression  of  Catholics  practised  by 
Wentworth ;  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  Lord  Deputy  constantly  consulted  him  with  regard  to 
his  management  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  Ireland,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  put  away  the  suspicion  that  he  would  be  a  good 
deal  guided  by  him  in  dealing  with  the  Catholics  in  that 
country,  as  well  as  with  the  Anglicans.  At  the  very  least, 
Laud  can  scarcely  have  been  ignorant  that  Wentworth,  the 
man  who  was  perpetually  inviting  his  advice  and  usually  fol 
lowing  it,  was  cruelly  persecuting  the  Irish  Catholic  gentry. 
In  short,  he  was  submitting  those  who  were  minors  to  the 
same  treatment  to  which  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  had  been  sub 
jected  many  years  earlier  in  England.  He  enforced  to  the 
full  the  powers  of  the  Court  of  Wards,  by  which  a  Catholic 

1  Notes  to  "  Bassompierre's  Embassy,"  pp.  6,  8.  '2  Vol.  iii.  p.  338. 


xviith  cem.1  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  291 

ward,  if  a  minor,  was  educated  a  Protestant,  and,  if  he 
were  not  a  minor,  was  not  allowed  to  have  possession  of  his 
property  unless  he  would  recant  his  faith  by  taking  the  oath 
of  supremacy,  which  included  the  abjuration  of  several 
articles  of  the  Catholic  creed.  Charles  I.  had  bound  himself 
to  abolish  this  oppressive  law  in  his  contract  of  1628.  Went- 
worth,  however,  took  good  care  that  this  contract  should  not 
be  confirmed.  Nay,  he  made  this  infamous  law  still  more 
effective.  "  To  elude  the  claim  of  the  crown  to  the  ward 
ships,"  says  Lingard,  "  and  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  suing 
out  the  livery  of  lands,  the  Catholics  had  been  accustomed  to 
alter  the  property  of  their  estates,  by  long  leases  of  some 
hundred  years,  and  feoffments  to  secret  trusts  and  uses.  But 
such  expedients  were  now  rendered  unavailable  by  an  act 
passed  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Lord  Deputy,  which  provided 
that  all  persons,  for  whose  use  others  were  seized  of  lands 
should  be  deemed  in  actual  possession  thereof,  and  that  no 
conveyance  of  any  estate  of  inheritance  should  be  valid, 
unless  it  were  by  writing,  and  enrolled  in  the  proper  court."1 

By  this  means,  Wentworth  hoped  by  degrees  to  make  the 
families  of  the  Irish  landowners  Protestant  instead  of 
Catholic.  The  matter,  he  says,  "  was  a  mighty  considera 
tion,  for  formerly  by  means  of  their  feoffies  in  trust,  their 
persons  almost  never  came  in  ward,  and  so  still  lived  from 
father  to  son  in  a  contrary  religion,  which  now,  as  they  fall 
in  ward,  may  be  stopped  and  prevented."  '2 

This  was  no  empty  boast.  "  Its  consequence,"  he  tells  us, 
"  appears  in  the  person  of  the  earl  of  Ormond,  who,  if  bred 
under  the  wings  of  his  own  parents,  had  been  under  the  same 
affections  and  religion  his  brothers  and  sisters  are :  whereas 
now  he  is  a  firm  Protestant." 

To  enter  upon  the  other  ways  in  which  Wentworth  perse 
cuted  the  Irish  landlords,  and  deprived  them  of  their  pro 
perty  upon  unjust  pretexts,  would  demand  more  space  than 
I  can  spare  for  such  a  purpose. 

At  the  same  time,  it  is  due  to  Wentworth  to  say  that  he 
did  not  invent,  suggest,  or  get  enacted  the  Court  of  Wards  in 

"  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v.  *  "Strafford  Papers,"  i.  p.  344. 


i  .  ( 


29  2  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Ireland.  That  had  been  the  handiwork  of  King  James  I. 
It  is  true  that  Wentworth  enforced  its  powers  at  a  time  when 
they  had  been  allowed  to  lie  dormant ;  but  for  that,  as  a 
Protestant  statesman,  he  might  have  defended  himself  with 
a  certain  show  of  reason  ;  while  he  might  have  maintained 
that  if  such  were  the  law  of  the  land,  the  Catholics  ought 
not  to  be  allowed  to  set  it  at  defiance  by  an  evasion,  even  if 
that  evasion  had  been  tolerated  by  his  predecessor. 

When,  a  couple  of  years  later,  Charles  I.,  fearing  that  his 
expedition  against  Cadiz  might  provoke  Spanish  retaliation 
upon  the  coast  of  Ireland,  wished  to  increase  the  Irish  army, 
he  obtained  ;£i  20,000  for  this  purpose  from  the  Irish  land 
lords,  in  return  for  certain  concessions,  one  of  which  was  that 
Catholics  should  be  able  to  sue  the  living  of  their  landed 
properties  out  of  the  Court  of  Wards,  by  an  oath  of  civil 
allegiance  "  made  heartily,  willingly,  and  truly  upon  the  true 
faith  of  a  Christian," 1  without  any  reference  to  religious 
creeds. 

Whether  Laud  recommended  the  king  to  agree  to  this, 
does  not  appear;  let  us  hope  that  he  did  so,  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  ;  but  it  greatly  chagrined  his  brother  archbishop, 
Usher,  of  Dublin,  who,  when  he  heard  that  such  a  proposal 
had  been  mooted,  called  together  eleven  other  Irish  Anglican 
bishops,  and  with  them  declared  in  solemn  synod  "  that  to 
permit  the  free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  worship  would  be  a 
grievous  sin,  because  it  would  make  the  Government  a  party 
not  only  to  the  superstition,  idolatry,  and  heresy  of  that 
worship,  but  also  to  the  perdition  of  the  seduced  people,  who 
would  perish  in  the  deluge  of  Catholic  apostasy  ;  and  that, 
to  grant  such  toleration  for  the  sake  of  money  to  be  con 
tributed  by  the  recusants,  was  to  set  religion  to  sale,  and 
with  it  the  souls  of  the  people  whom  Christ  had  redeemed 
with  his  blood." 2 

To  give  Laud  his  due,  he  never  wrote  or  spoke  of  Catholics 
and  their  religion  quite  in  this  style.  Moreover,  in  one  of 
his  letters  to  Wentworth,3  he  rather  advises  caution  in  the 

1  "  Strafford  Papers,"  i.  p.  317.  2  "  Cyp.  Angl,"  p.  206. 

3  "  Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  i.  p.  479. 


37-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laztd.  293 

persecution  of  them,  if  not  exactly  from  the  highest  motive. 
"  My  Lord,  I  am  the  bolder  to  write  this  last  Line  to  you, 
upon  a  late  Accident,  which  I  have  very  casually  discovered 
in  Court.  I  find  that  notwithstanding  all  your  great  services 
in  Ireland,  which  be  most  graciously  accepted  by  the  King, 
you  want  not  them  which  whisper,  and  perhaps  speak  louder 
where  they  think  they  may,  against  your  Proceedings  in 
Ireland,  as  being  over-full  of  personal  Prosecutions  against 
Men  of  Quality."  "  And  this  is  somewhat  loudly  spoken  by 
some  on  the  Queen's  side.  And  although  I  know  a  great 
Part  of  this  proceeds  from  your  wise  and  noble  Proceedings 
against  the  Romish  Party  in  that  Kingdom,  yet  that  shall 
never  be  made  the  cause  in  Publick,  but  Advantages  taken 
(such  as  they  can)  from  those  and  like  Particulars  to  blast 
you  and  your  Honour  if  they  be  able  to  do  it." 

If  Laud  occasionally  worried  Catholics,  he  was  not 
without  his  own  worries  from  other  quarters. 

We  have  had  many  instances,  in  our  own  times,  of  the 
fact  that  the  no-Popery  outcry  of  the  puritanical  party  has 
not,  as  a  rule,  the  effect  of  inclining  the  vilified  Anglican 
ecclesiastics  to,  or  even  in  the  direction  of,  the  fold  of 
the  Catholic  Church  ;  it  may  provoke  them  into  becoming 
"  higher  "  ;  but  generally  that  is  all. 

In  the  year  1637,  "  libels,"  as  he  called  them,  were  poured 
forth  liberally  upon  Laud  and  his  brother  bishops.  "  A 
Short  Libel  "  was  "  pasted  on  the  Cross  in  Cheapside  :  that 
the  Arch-Wolf  of  Cant,  had  his  Hand,  in  persecuting  the 
Saints,  and  shedding  the  Blood  of  the  Martyrs."  *  "  Another 
Libel  "  was  "  fastened  to  the  North  Gate  of  St  Pauls.  That 
the  Government  of  the  Church  of  England  is  a  Candle  in  the 
snuff,  going  out  in  a  Stench  "  ;  and  "  the  same  Day  at  Night 
my  Lord  Mayor  sent  me  another  Libel,  hanged  upon  the 
Standard  in  Cheapside*  My  Speech  in  the  Star-Chamber^ 
set  in  a  kind  of  Pillory,  &c."  Four  days  later,  he  writes 
"  Another  short  Libel  against  me  in  Verse."  A  clergyman,  a 
Bachelor  of  Divinity,  had  the  effrontery  to  write  of  bishops  as 
"  Limbs  of  the  Beast,  even  of  Antichrist,"  as  "  Antichristian 

1  Diary,  p.  54. 


294  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Mushrumps,"  as  "  Jesuited  Polypragmatics,"  whatever  they 
might  be,  and  as  "  Sons  of  Belial  "  ;  expressions  for  which  he 
had  to  answer  before  Laud  in  the  Star  Chamber.  Anagrams 
were  the  fashion  in  those  days,  and  some  puritanical  wit 
made  the  pleasing  discovery  that,  somehow  or  other,  the 
letters  of  the  name  of  William  Laud  would  also  spell1 
"  Well,  I  am  a  Divel."  It  was  in  this  year  that  Prynne  and 
his  companions  were  tried  before  the  same  tribunal.  With 
these  I  have  already  dealt  in  a  former  chapter,  but  I  should 
add  that,  after  they  had  stood  in  the  pillory,  they  were  sent  to 
prisons  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  that  so  strong 
was  popular  opinion  in  their  favour,  that  the  first  part  of  their 
journey  from  London  was  more  like  the  triumphal  procession 
of  heroes  than  the  disgraceful  conveyance  of  convicts  to  their 
places  of  punishment.  Laud  himself  wrote 2  that  "  thousands  " 
of  people  assembled  to  see  them  pass  by  ;  but,  says  Lingard, 
although  all  this  "  excited  alarm  in  the  breast  of  the  Arch 
bishop,"  "  that  alarm,  instead  of  teaching  him  the  impolicy 
of  such  cruel  exhibitions,  only  prompted  him  to  employ 
additional  severity."3 

The  Catholic  convert,  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  in  writing4  of  the 
cutting  off  of  their  ears  on  the  pillory,  said  : — "  The  bloody 
sponges  and  handkerchiefs  that  did  the  hangman  service  in 
cutting  off  their  ears "  were  picked  up  and  treasured  with 
great  veneration  by  the  Puritans,  and,  he  continued : — 
"  You  may  see  how  nature  leads  men  to  respect  relics  of 
martyrs." 

A  man  of  good  family  in  Durham,  John  Lilburn,  was  put 
into  trade  in  London,  and  one  of  the  party  of  prisoners  men 
tioned  above,  Bastwick,  persuaded  him  to  take  the  manu 
script  of  a  libellous  pamphlet  which  he  had  written,  called 
The  Merry  Liturgy,  to  Holland,  where  he  got  it  printed, 
and  then  brought  it  back  to  England,  together  with  a  book 
called  The  Vanity  and  Impiety  of  the  Old  Litany,  and 
other  publications  of  a  similar  nature.  He  dispersed  these 
books,  tracts,  and  pamphlets  with  the  utmost  secrecy ;  but  he 

1  Benson,  p.  74.     From  Lambeth  Papers.  2  "  Strafford  Papers,"  ii.  99. 

3  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v.       4  S.  P.  O.  Dom.,  vol.  ccclxix.  No.  68. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  295 

was,  as  he  says,1  "  treacherously  and  Judasly  betrayed  (by 
one  that "  he  "  supposed  to  be  "  his  "  friend  ")  into  the  hands 
of  "  the  pursuivant,  with  four  of  his  assistants,"  and  "  com 
mitted  to  the  Gate-house  by  Sir  John  Lamb,  the  prelate  of 
Canterbury's  chancellor." 

He  was  tried  in  the  Star  Chamber,  where  he  greatly 
scandalised  Laud  by  refusing  to  take  the  oath,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  "  an  oath  of  inquiry,  and  of  the  same  nature  as 
the  high-commission  oath  ;  which  oath  "  he  knew  "  to  be  un 
lawful,  and  withal  "  he  found  "  no  warrant  in  the  word  of 
God  for  an  oath  of  inquiry." 

Laud  happened  at  that  moment  to  be  standing  with  his 
back  to  him,  and  looking  round  over  his  shoulder,  he  per 
emptorily  ordered  him  to  pull  off  his  glove,  lay  it  on  the 
book,  and  take  the  oath. 

"  '  Sir,'  replied  Lilburn,  '  I  will  not  swear ; '  and  then 
directing  my  speech  unto  the  lords,  I  said,  most  honourable 
and  noble  lords,  with  all  reverence  and  submission  unto  your 
honours,  submitting  my  body  unto  your  lordships'  pleasure, 
and  whatsoever  you  please  to  inflict  upon  it,  yet  I  must  refuse 
the  oath." 

"  '  My  Lords/  said  the  Arch  Prelate  (in  a  deriding  manner), 
'  do  you  hear  him  ?  he  saith,  with  all  reverence  and  submis 
sion,  he  refuseth  the  oath.' " 

He  "  was  cruelly  whipped  through  the  streets  to  West 
minster,"  at  the  cart's  tail,  and  was  then  placed  in  the  pillory, 
in  a  place  where  the  judges  in  the  Star  Chamber  could  see 
him  through  the  windows,  for  two  hours.  He  scattered  a 
number  of  his  libellous  tracts  from  the  very  platform  of  the 
pillory,  and,  during  his  subsequent  imprisonment,  he  wrote, 
and  by  some  means  managed  to  get  published,  a  book  en 
titled  Nine  Arguments  against  Episcopacy.  He  eventually 
became  a  captain  in  Cromwell's  army ;  he  fought  at  Edge- 
hill ;  he  was  taken  prisoner  at  Brentford,  and  only  just 
escaped  execution  for  high  treason  by  an  exchange  of 
prisoners ;  he  fought  as  a  lieutenant  colonel  at  Marston- 
Moor  ;  he  quarrelled  with  some  of  his  fellow-officers  and 

1  "  Celebrated  Trials,"  vol.  i. 


296  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [£rtca64l637' 

others  among  the  Parliamentary  party,  including  Cromwell 
himself;  he  was  fined  ^"7000  and  banished,  to  come  back  to 
England  and  become  a  quaker  and  preacher,  and  at  his 
funeral,  in  1657,  four  thousand  people  were  present. 

One  of  the  most  unpopular  measures  instituted  by  Laud 
was  the  fruit  of  his  desire  to  put  a  stop  to  the  publication  of 
books  directed  against  his  own  school  in  the  Established 
Church.  He  was  intent,  says  Heylin,  "  upon  1  keeping  down 
the  Genevian  Party,  and  hindring  them  from  Printing  and 
Publishing  any  thing  which  might  disturb  the  Churches 
Peace,  or  corrupt  her  Doctrine.  To  this  end  he  procured  a 
Decree  to  be  pass'd  in  the  Star-Chamber,  on  July  I  Anno 
1637."  "By  which  Decree  it  had  been  Ordered,  That  the 
Master  Printers  from  thenceforth  should  be  reduced  to  a  cer 
tain  number  ;  and  that  if  any  other  should  secretly  or  openly 
pursue  that  Trade,  he  should  be  set  in  the  Pillory,  or  whipped 
through  the  Streets,  &c."  ;  and  that  no  books  or  prints  should 
in  future  be  published  even  by  the  "  said  Master  Printers," 
until  they  had  been  "  lawfully  Licensed,  either  by  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Canterbury,  or  the  Bishop  of  London,  or  certain 
other  authorities  mentioned."  Also  that  "  every  Merchant, 
Bookseller,  or  other  Person,  who  shall  Import  any  Printed 
Books  from  beyond  the  Seas,  shall  present  a  true  Catalogue 
of  them  to  the  said  Archbishop  or  Bishop  for  the  time  being, 
before  they  be  delivered,  or  exposed  for  Sale,  &c." 

One  of  the  first  books  seized,  under  the  power  of  this 
decree,  was  the  little  Genevan  edition  of  the  pocket  Bible, 
with  footnotes.2  Two  entire  editions  were  confiscated  at  the 
Hague.  On  this  account,  Laud  was  accused  of  having 
deliberately  opposed  the  circulation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
with  about  as  much  reason  as  the  same  accusation  has  often 
been  brought  against  the  Catholic  Church.  In  either  case  it 
was,  of  course,  not  the  Holy  Bible  itself,  but  the  garbled 
translation,  or  else  the  notes  appended,  to  which  exception 
was  taken. 

The  notes3  in  "The  Genevian  Bibles,"  says  Heylin,  "did 
not  only  teach  the  Lawfulness  of  breaking  Faith  and  Promise 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"pp.  340  and  341.      2  Benson,  p.  79.      3  "Cyp.  Ang.,"p.  342. 


Srtca64l637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  297 

when  the  keeping  of  it  might  conduce  to  the  hurt  of  the 
Gospel :  but  ranked  Archbishops,  Bishops,  and  all  men  in 
Holy  Orders,  or  Academical  Degrees,  amongst  those  Locusts 
in  the  Revelation,  which  came  out  of  the  Pit."  Naturally 
Laud  did  not  wish  to  be  compared  to  a  locust,  in  the  Revela 
tion,  coming  out  of  the  Pit.  The  notes  of  the  same  Bible 
advocated  "the  murthering "  of  kings,  "if  they  proved 
Idolaters."  Nevertheless,  this  arbitrary  curtailment  of-  the 
liberty  of  the  press  has  not  been  generally  considered  a 
diplomatic  measure,  on  the  part  of  Laud,  by  political  critics 
of  his  history. 

Upon  Laud  was  thrown  the  whole  odium  of  another 
national  annoyance.  This  was  the  exodus  of  a  number  of 
Puritans  to  America,  to  avoid  his  persecution,  and  their 
settlement  in  the  place  they  called  New  England.  It  was 
said  that  Laud  "  in  his  own  Person,  and  his  Suffragans,  &c., 
&c.,"  "had  caused  divers  Learned,  Pious  and  Orthodox 
Preachers  of  God's  Word  to  be  silenced,  suspended,  deprived, 
degraded,  excommunicated,  or  otherwise  grieved  and  vexed 
without  any  just  cause  ;  whereby,  and  by  divers  other  means 
he  had  hindered  the  Preaching  of  God's  Word,  and  caused 
divers  of  his  Majesties  Subjects  to  forsake  the  Kingdom  " * 
and  settle  in  New  England. 

Heylin  says  that  "New  England,  like  the  Spleen  in  the 
Natural  Body,  by  drawing  to  it  so  many  sullen,  sad,  and 
offensive  Humours,  was  not  unuseful  and  unserviceable  to 
the  General  Health  :  But  when  the  Spleen  is  grown  once 
too  full,"  and  so  on,  and  so  on,  "  it  both  corrupts  the  Blood, 
and  disturbs  the  Head,  and  leaves  the  whole  man  wearisom 
to  himself  and  others."  For  this  reason,  it  was  actually 
contemplated,  by  Laud,  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  to  send  a  Bishop 
over  to  them,  for  their  better  Government "  ; — mark  especially 
what  follows — "and  back  him  with  some  Forces  to  compel, 
if  he  were  not  able  to  perswade  Obedience.  But  this  Design 
was  strangled  in  the  first  Conception,  by  the  violent  breakings 
out  of  the  Troubles  in  Scotland" 

Yet,  when  we  think  with  pity  of  the  narrow  escape  of  the 

1  "Gyp.  Ang.,  p.  346." 


298  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [SC64l637" 

exiles  for  conscience  sake,  in  New  England,  from  a  persecut 
ing  bishop,  backed  up  by  an  army  of  soldiers,  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  they  not  only  practised  barbarous  cruelties 
upon  the  native  Indians  soon  after  their  arrival  in  their 
adopted  country ;  but  that,  in  a  few  years,  they  caught  three 
Quaker  women,  who  had  landed  in  New  England,  stripped 
them  to  the  waist,  flogged  them  through  eleven  towns,  and 
drove  them  through  frost  and  snow  a  distance  of  eighty 
miles,  and  that  they  hanged  three  Quakers  and  one  Quakeress,1 
for  no  other  offence  than  their  religion. 

1  "  Ency.  Brit.,"  8th  ed.  vol.  xviii.  p.  719. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

A  MUCH  more  important  personage  than  any  of  the  so- 
called  "  libellers "  described  in  the  last  chapter,  was  to  be 
brought  before  Laud  in  the  Star  Chamber  in  the  year  1637. 
The  archbishop  was  to  have  the  pleasure  of  lecturing,  in  that 
tribunal,  a  brother  bishop,  a  future  archbishop,  an  enemy, 
and  a  man  of  religious  and  political  views  very  different 
from  his  own. 

When  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  lost  his  post  of  Keeper 
of  the  Great  Seal,  he  had  assumed  the  role  of  a  popular, 
liberal  and  democratic,  if  not  republican,  bishop.  Retir 
ing  to  his  own  diocese,  he  had  lived  there  in  considerable 
splendour  and  become  quite  a  hero  among  those  who  bore  no 
good  will  towards  the  king  and  the  court.  He  was  vain, 
imperious,  hot-tempered,  and  no  respecter  of  persons.  In 
appearance,  his  portrait  represents  him  as  high-shouldered, 
small-eyed,  with  a  pointed  chin  and  nose,  and  a  disagreeable 
smile.  It  does  not  look  a  sincere  face  ;  but  it  is  a  shrewd 
one. 

Clarendon  tells  us  that1  "he  did  not  always  confine,  him 
self  to  a  precise  Veracity,  and  did  often  presume,  in  those 
unwary  discourses,  to  mention  the  person  of  the  king  with 
too  little  reverence."  And  he  says  that  "  he  would  frequently, 
and  in  the  presence  of  many,  speak  with  too  much  Freedom, 
and  tell  many  stories  of  Things  and  Persons  upon  his  own 
former  experience." 

Nor  was  it  only  against  the  king  and  the  court  that 
Williams  felt  ill-will  and  talked  gossip.  "  He  did  affect  to 
be  thought  an  Enemy  to  the  Arch-Bishop  of  Canterbury  ; 
whose  Person  he  seem'd  exceedingly  to  contemn,  and  to  be 
much  displeased  with  those  Ceremonies  and  Innovations,  as 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  345. 

299 


300  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Srtca64l637< 

they  were  then  called,  which  were  countenanced  by  the 
Other ;  and  had  himself  published,  by  his  own  Authority,  a 
Book  against  the  using  those  Ceremonies,  in  which  there 
was  much  good  learning,  and  too  little  Gravity  for  a  Bishop." 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  even  if  it  be  true  that  Williams 
recommended  Laud  for  a  bishopric,  he  certainly  quarrelled 
with  him  afterwards.  It  will  also  be  remembered  that  the 
quarrel  was  patched  up,  after  some  sort  of  fashion.  That  the 
nominal  peace  was  not  very  sincere  is  shown  by  the  remarks 
of  Clarendon  which  I  have  just  quoted  ;  and  when  a  man  of 
Laud's  temperament  heard  that  Williams  was  not  only  abus 
ing  him  but,  still  worse,  making  fun  of  him,  he  must  have 
been  irritated  to  the  last  degree. 

D'Israeli l  says  that  "  Laud  cruelly  persecuted  Williams  for 
a  contemptuous  jest."  Considering  Williams'  attempts  to 
prejudice  Laud  in  high  quarters,  when  he  was  himself  in 
power,  and  his  attacks  with  his  pen  on  both  Laud  and  his 
ecclesiastical  policy  when  he  fell  into  disgrace,  I  do  not  think 
that  this  is  a  very  just  accusation.  At  the  same  time,  I  am 
not  prepared  to  deny  that  Laud  may  have  felt  sensations  of 
inward  satisfaction,  when  Williams  was  summoned  in  the 
Star  Chamber  "  for  contriving  and  publishing  False  Tales  and 
News  to  the  scandal  of  his  Majesty's  Government,  and  for 
revealing  some  things  contrary  to  the  Duty  of  his  Place,  and 
Oath  of  a  Privy  Counsellor."  2 

So  little  was  the  prosecution  expected  by  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  that  when  the  summons  was  presented  to  him  by 
"  Mr  Attorney's  Clerk,"  "he  said  somewhat  merrily  to  him, 
'  You  mistake  the  party ; '  quoth  he,  '  this  bill  belongeth  to 
the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and  not  to  the  Bishop.'  The  messenger 
replied,  '  If  it  please  your  lordship  to  peruse  it,  you  shall  find 
it  concerns  the  Bishop  only.'  "  3 

The  Attorney-General,  in  prosecuting,  did  not  soften  his 
language  in  deference  to  the  Right  Rev.  Father  in  God,  whom 
it  was  his  business  to  attack.  "  Here,"  said  he,  "was  a  heap 

1  "Life  and  Reign  of  Charles  I.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  74. 

2  Rushworth's  "Historical  Recollections,"  vol.  ii. 

3  Mr  Pery  to  Lord  Brooke,  "  Court  and  Times  of  Ch.  I.,"  vol.  ii.  p.  196. 


ltC641637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  301 

of  offences  tending  to  the  subversion  of  Justice,  and  labour 
ing,  tampering,  suborning  and  sending  away  the  King's 
Witnesses,  to  suppress  the  Truth,  and  to  cause  Retracting  a 
Scandal  rais'd  against  the  Proceedings  of  the  Sessions,  and 
an  Aspersion  cast  upon  Sir  John  Mounson :  These  are  great 
crimes  in  themselves,  much  more  in  a  Bishop  ;  if  not  reme 
died,  will  draw  the  same  Infamy  on  this  Nation  as  it  did 
upon  Greece,  Dare  mutuum  Testimoninmr 

This  speech  of  the  Attorney-General's  cannot  have  been 
other  than  very  pleasant  hearing  to  Laud.  Quite  as  delightful 
to  the  archbishop's  ears  must  have  been  the  opening  sentences 
of  Lord  Cottington's  judgment.  Laud  himself  knew  what  it 
was  to  be  worsted  by  Cottington,  and  he  would  all  the  more 
relish  the  spectacle  of  his  enemy  writhing  in  the  hands  of  the 
same  tormentor. 

Lord  Cottington  said  that  "  the  Well-head  from  whence  all 
these  foul  Streams  flow'd  was  very  small,  and  the  Bishop's  over 
throw  was  of  his  own  seeking  :  he  was  sorry  a  Person  so  great, 
wise  and  well-experienced,  and  who  had  sat  there  himself, 
should  come  to  be  censured  for  such  foul  Offences." 

Very  agreeable,  too,  to  Laud,  must  have  been  the  conclud 
ing  portion  of  Lord  Cottington's  judgment,  when  he  sentenced 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  to  be  fined  ",£10,000  to  the  King,  to 
be  imprison'd  in  the  Tower  during  the  King's  pleasure, 
suspended  from  all  Ecclesiastical  Functions,  ab  officio  et 
beneficio,  &c.,  &c." 

When  it  came  to  Laud's  own  turn  to  pass  sentence  on 
his  brother  bishop,  it  may  have  been  that  he  felt  a  little 
nervous ;  for  Laud  had  nerves,  like  other  men,  although 
excessive  nervousness  has  not  generally  been  considered  one 
of  his  most  characteristic  attributes.1 

"The  Archbishop  began  with  his  great  sorrow,  that  a 
Person  of  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln's  Profession,  one  so  wise, 
discreet  and  understanding,  of  such  excellent  Parts  natural 
and  acquired,  of  such  Wisdom,  learning,  Agility  of  Memory 
and  Experience,  should  be  guilty  of  such  Offences  as  deserved 
the  Censure  of  this  Court  ;  that  after  he  had  been  overtaken 

1  I  quote  from  the  long  account  of  the  trial  in  Rushworth,  vol.  ii. 


302  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

in  one  Error  in  the  first  Cause  he  should  now  fall  into  a  worse 
by  obnoxious  and  Criminal  ways  ;  that  when  some  question 
was  made  of  his  Loyalty  and  Discretion  in  words  only,  he 
should  by  unlawful  means  seek  to  justify  his  Words  and 
Actions." 

But  it  would  not  do  to  appear  to  be  rejoicing  over  a  fallen 
foe ;  so  Laud  assumed  for  a  moment  the  part  of  a  sorrowing 
friend.  "  He  said  he  had  been  five  times  upon  his  Knees  to 
the  King  on  his  behalf."  [Would  Williams,  himself  a  fibber, 
be  very  likely  to  believe  this  ?]  "  The  Bishop  "  of  Lincoln 
"  by  his  Letters,  acknowledged  that  his  main  hopes  rested  on 
him  "  (the  archbishop),  "  yet  for  all  this  he  was  but  coarsly 
us'd  and  ill  requited  by  him." 

This  was  a  private  and  personal  matter,  which  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  case  before  the  Court,  and  it  was  a  grievous 
mistake  on  the  part  of  Laud  to  introduce  it,  more  especially 
in  delivering  his  judgment. 

By  and  bye,  Laud  could  not  resist  the  opportunity  of  show 
ing  himself  off.  He  must  needs  become  historical,  biblical, 
and  classical,  at  poor  Williams'  expense.  "  He  wished  he," 
Williams,  "had  been  as  free  from  Passion  as  St  Cecilia." 
"  As  for  the  Charges  and  Defences  in  the  Cause,  for  him 
to  repeat  them,  would  be  but  dictum  dicere ;  that  though 
this  matter  be  not  perhaps  subornation  of  Perjury,  yet  tam 
pering,  threatening,  deterring,  affrighting,  corrupting,  silenc 
ing,  or  absenting  of  Witnesses,  are  ejusdem  natures  and  foul 
Crimes ;  and  if  this  be  suffer'd,  it  will  destroy  the  Interest  of 
meum  et  tuum,  and  subvert  all  Right  and  Justice." 

Bearing  false  witness  "  took  its  birth  in  Hell,  and  came  in 
with  two  Sons  of  Belial,  in  the  Devil's  Name."  "  This  Engine, 
fetch'd  from  Hell  outfac'd  the  God  of  Truth,  for  false 
Witnesses  were  found  out  against  Christ  himself." 

The  Romans  made  a  law  against  false  witnesses,  "  that  the 
guilty  Person  should  be  thrown  down  a  steep  high  rock, 
e  monte  Tarpeio,  or  e  saxo  Tarpeio,  and  have  his  Bones  dash'd 
to  pieces." 

All  this  must  have  been  very  interesting  to  poor  Williams. 

"  In  the  second  part  of  the  Decretals,  a  Suborner  of  Wit- 


i?a641637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  303 

nesses,  if  he  brought  a  false  Testimony  (though  compel'd 
thereunto  by  his  Lord  and  Master),  was  to  be  excommuni 
cated  during  his  Life." — This  was  a  pretty  direct  thrust  at  his 
bishop-victim. — "  A  heavy  Burden  (though  in  these  looser 
times  little  set  by)  to  be  bereav'd  of  the  Communion  of  Saints, 
and  of  being  a  Member  of  Christ's  Body." 

Williams  was  reputed  to  "  set  little  by  "  such  matters  as 
membership  of  any  particular  church  ;  so  this  delicate  hint 
would  be  well  understood. 

As  to  a  bearer  of  false  witness,  "  Aristotle  terms  him  one 
qui  pietatem  non  curat"  The  great  philosopher  was  made 
the  medium  of  some  more  lecturing,  and  presently  Laud 
said  : — u  the  Bishop  is  a  miserable  man  "  ! 

"  In  the  first  Council  of  Macedon,  seventeenth  canon,  a 
perjur'd  Person  is  ranked  with  Murderers ;  nay,  the  Sub 
orner  and  Procurer  of  false  witnesses  is  worse  than  a  Man- 
slayer,  for  he  destroys  two  souls  at  once,  his  own  and  that 
of  him  who  sweareth." 

Even  this  was  not  enough.  "  In  the  seventeenth  Council 
of  Agatho,"  "  a  Tamperer  with  false  witnesses  was  to  be  put 
to  death." 

I  have  only  given  a  fraction  of  Laud's* long  judgment,  the 
deliverance  of  which  evidently  afforded  him  keen  enjoyment. 
Bishop  Racket  says  of  it1: — "Then  comes  in  the  Arch 
bishop  with  a  Trick,  to  Noise  up  the  Bishop  with  some 
Praise,  that  it  might  push  him  in  pieces  with  a  greater 
Censure,  That  when  he  thought  upon  this  Delinquent's 
Learning,  Wisdom,  Agility  in  Despatch,  Memory,  and  Ex 
perience,  that  accompanied  him  with  all  these  Endowments, 
he  wondred  at  his  Follies  and  Sins  in  this  Cause.  O  Sins 
by  all  means  !  for  by  dioptrical  Glasses  some  find  Blemishes 
in  the  Sun."  "  So  upon  this  matter  his  Grace  took  up  no 
less  than  a  full  Hour  to  declaim  against  the  horrid  Sin  of 
Perjury."  "  The  Auditors  thought  he  would  never  make  an 
end."  But,  as  he  pithily  observes,  "  It  was  Williams's  turn 
now  to  suffer  Episcopal  Disgrace  and  Declension  ;  "  "  it  was 
Canterbury's  not  long  after." 

1  "  Scrinia  Rcserata,"  pp.  125-6. 


304  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvuthcent. 

Williams  spent  some  years  in  the  Tower.  While  there, 
he  is  said  by  Clarendon  l  to  have  given  his  friends  and  ad 
mirers  a  very  mendacious  account  of  his  trial,  as  well  as  of 
some  secret  offers  which  he  pretended  were  made  to  him. 
He  also  put  forth  a  statement  "  impeaching  the  credit  of 
Kilvert "  (one  of  the  principal  witnesses  against  him),  "  who 
had  been  informed  against  for  perjury,  and  was  living  in 
adultery  '  under  my  Lord  Graces  nose.'  " 2 

"  It  had  once  been  mention'd  to  Him,  whether  by  Authority, 
or  no,  is  not  known,  '  that  his  Peace  should  be  made  if  he 
would  resign  his  Bishoprick,  and  Deanery  of  Westminster' 
(for  he  had  That  in  Commendam),  '  and  take  a  good  Bishop- 
rick  in  Ireland' ;  which  he  positively  refused;  and  said,  'he 
had  much  to  do  to  defend  himself  against  the  Arch-Bishop 
Here  ;  but  if  he  was  in  Ireland,  There  was  a  Man  (meaning 
the  Earl  of  Stafford)  who  would  cut  off  his  Head  within 
one  month.'"3  He  long  outlived  Laud,  became  eventually 
Archbishop  of  York,  and  died  of  a  "  Squinancy."  4 

The  greater  part  of  this  chapter  has  been  devoted  to  show 
ing  how  stern  Laud  could  be  to  a  Broad-Church  bishop  ;  I 
must  admit  that  I  fear  personal  enmities  may  have  had  quite 
as  much  to  do  with  the  bitter  feeling,  which  existed  between 
these  two  Anglican  dignitaries,  as  theological,  and  I  am  about 
to  show  that  he  could  be  very  kind  if  firm  to  a  Broad-Church 
ecclesiastic  on  occasion. 

"  The  ever-memorable  "  Hales,  as  he  has  been  called,  had 
written  a  tract  on  schism,  in  which  he  not  only  showed  a 
contempt  for  ecclesiastical  authority,  but  dealt  with  it  in  a 
spirit  of  sarcasm.  Although  privately  printed,  a  copy,  some 
how  or  other,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Laud,  who  immediately 
sent  for  its  author. 

Poor  Hales  arrived  at  Lambeth  at  about  nine  o'clock  on  a 
summer's  morning,  most  probably  in  considerable  trepidation. 
Laud  took  him  into  his  garden,  and,  pacing  up  and  down, 
gave  him  his  mind  on  the  subject  of  the  unlucky  tract.  Hales 
afterwards  confessed  to  Heylin  that  he  had  had  a  terrible 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  iii.  pp.  346-8.        2  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1637,  p.  262. 
3  Ib.,  p.  348.  4  "  Scrinia  Reserata,"  p.  227. 


Srtca641637  J  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  305 

time  of  it.  "  He  had  been  ferreted  from  one  hole  to  another, 
till  he  was  resolved  to  be  orthodox  and  declare  himself  a 
true  son  of  the  Church  of  England,  both  for  doctrine  and 
discipline." 

Nor  was  the  ferreting  soon  over.  When  they,  or  at  least 
Laud,  had  been  talking  for  some  time,  the  bell  rang  for 
prayers,  when  the  archbishop  took  his  victim  with  him 
through  the  door  from  the  garden  into  the  chapel.  The 
service  being  over,  he  led  him  forth  by  the  same  portal  into 
the  garden  and  went  at  him  again  till  dinner-time.  Having 
then  fed  him,  he  took  him  once  more  into  the  garden  and 
lectured  him  again  till  four  o'clock. 

But,  in  all  this,  Laud  did  nothing  but  argue  out  the  points 
in  dispute  ;  he  evidently  allowed  Hales  to  have  his  fair  share 
of  the  controversy  ;  for,  says  Heylin  : — "  In  they  came,  highly 
coloured  and  almost  panting  for  breath  ;  enough  to  shew  that 
there  had  been  some  heats  between  them  not  then  fully 
cooled." 

Opposite  as  were  Hales's  views  to  Laud's,  the  archbishop 
recognised  his  talent  and  his  powers  as  a  conversationalist  as 
well  as  a  listener  ;  he  may  have  also  flattered  himself  that  he 
had  to  a  great  extent  converted  him  to  a  better  state  of  mind ; 
at  any  rate,  instead  of  summoning  him  as  a  heretic  before  the 
High  Commission,  he  made  him  one  of  his  chaplains,  and 
afterwards  persuaded  the  king  to  give  him  a  canonry  at 
Windsor. 

In  the  year  1637,  we  hear  once  more  of  our  old  acquaint 
ance,  Lady  Eleanor  Davies,  in  connection  with  one  of  Laud's 
pet  works,  the  railing-in  and  the  adornment  of  communion 
tables.1  "  It  seems  that  the  cathedral  church  of  Lichfield  is 
lately  very  beautifully  set  out  with  hangings  of  arras  behind 
the  altar  ;  the  communion-table  itself  set  out  in  the  best 
manner,  and  the  bishop's  seat  fairly  built.  This  lady  "  [Lady 
Eleanor  Davies]  "  came  one  communion  day  in  the  morning 
with  a  kettle  in  one  hand  and  a  brush  in  the  other,  to  sprinkle 
some  of  her  holy  water  (as  she  called  that  in  the  kettle)  upon 

1  Mr  E.  R.  to  Sir  T.  Puckering,  Bart.,  "  Court  and  Times  of  Ch.  I.,"  vol.  ii. 
P-  259- 

U 


306  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

these  hangings  and  the  bishop's  seat,  which  was  only  a  com 
position  of  tar,  pitch,  sink-puddle,  water,  &c.,  and  such  kind 
of  nasty  ingredients,  which  she  did  sprinkle  upon  the  afore 
said  things." 

For  this  performance,  she  was  shut  up  in  a  lunatic  asylum. 
After  all,  may  there  not  have  been  "  a  method  in  her  mad 
ness  "  ?  for  she  hated  Laud  and  all  his  works,  and  anything 
that  he  had  enjoined,  whether  it  were  hangings  of  arras,  com 
munion-tables  set  out  in  the  best  manner,  or  anything  else, 
was  odious  to  her.  He  had  introduced  many  Popish  practices 
into  the  Reformed  Church ;  but  not  holy  water ;  so  she 
determined  to  do  this  for  him. 

Unorthodoxy  in  religion  was  not  the  only  offence  towards 
which  Laud  turned  his  attention ;  immorality  was  a  crime 
which  he  took  an  equal  delight  in  punishing.  In  the  year 
1627,  Lady  Purbeck,  the  wife  of  Viscount  Purbeck,  was  con 
victed  before  the  High  Commission  at  London  House  of 
adultery,  and  was  ordered,  by  the  twenty  commissioners 
present,  to  do  penance,  barefooted,  in  a  white  sheet,  in  the 
church  of  the  Savoy.  Such  a  performance  was  not  at  all  to 
the  taste  of  her  ladyship,  and  she  determined  to  avoid  it.  As 
Laud  says,1  "  she  withdrew  her  self,  to  avoid  the  Penance." 
Who  can  wonder  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  she  disguised  herself 
— not  in  a  white  sheet,  but  in  a  man's  clothes,2  and  joined  her 
paramour,  Sir  Robert  Howard,  at  his  house  in  Shropshire, 
where  she  lived,  says  Laud,  "  avowedly  with  him,"  and  had  a 
family. 

While  these  two  wicked  people  were  living  in  the  country, 
they  were  left  unmolested  ;  but,  "  at  last,  they  grew  to  that 
open  boldness,  that"  Sir  Robert  brought  Lady  Purbeck 
"  up  to  London,  and  lodged  her  in  Westminster.  This  was 
so  near  the  Court,  and  in  so  open  view  ;  that  the  King  and 
the  Lords  took  notice  of  it,  as  a  thing  full  of  Impudence, 
that  they  should  so  publickly  adventure  to  outface  the 
Justice  of  the  Realm,  in  so  fowl  a  business." 

One  day,  when   Laud  was  at  court,  the  king  took  him 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.  and  Tryal  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  146. 

2  Lingard's  "  History,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  307 

aside  and  told  him  of  this  scandal,  "  and  added,  that  it  was 
a  great  Reproach  to  the  Church  and  Nation  "  ;  worse  still, 
says  Laud,  he  said  that  "  I  neglected  my  duty,  in  case  I  did 
not  take  order  for  it."  Laud  replied  that  Lady  Purbeck 
was  the  wife  of  a  peer  of  the  realm  ;  but  that  now  he  knew 
his  Majesty's  pleasure,  he  would  do  his  "best  to  have  her 
taken,  and  brought  to  Penance,  according  to  the  Sentence 
against  her." 

He  was  as  good  as  his  word.  "The  next  day,"  he  con 
tinues,  "  I  had  the  good  hap  to  apprehend  both  Her  and 
Sir  Robert ;  and  by  Order  of  the  High-Commission-Court, 
Imprisoned  her  in  the  Gate-house,  and  him  in  the  Fleet''  He 
took  care  not  even  to  let  them  be  in  the  same  prison. 

"  The  Sunday  sevennight  after,  was  thought  upon  her  to 
bring  to  Penance.  She  was  much  troubled  at  it,  and  so  was 
he."  Sir  Robert,  therefore,  "  dealt  with  some  of  his  friends," 
one  of  whom,  "with  Mony,  corrupted  the  Turn-Key  of  the 
Prison  (so  they  call  him)  and  conveyed  the  Lady  forth,  and 
after  that  into  France  in  Man's  Apparel  (as  that  Knight  hath 
since  made  his  boast)."  That  knight,  however,  remained  a 
prisoner  in  the  Fleet,  and  although  Laud  could  not  prove 
him  to  have  been  the  means  of  contriving  Lady  Purbeck's 
escape,  "  in  the  next  sitting  of  the  High- Commission"  he 
"  Ordered  him  to  be  close  Prisoner  till  he  brought  the  Lady 
forth."  After  being  in  prison  for  three  months — for  the  lady 
remained  abroad — Sir  Robert  was  liberated,  on  his  own 
bond  of  £2000,  never  to  admit  Lady  Purbeck  again  into  his 
presence. 

It  would  seem  that,  while  living  in  France,  Lady  Purbeck 
repented  of  her  sin  and  became  a  Catholic.  "  My  Lady 
Purbeck  left  her  Country  and  Religion  both  together,"  writes 
the  Rev.  Mr  Garrard  to  Wentworth,1  "  and  since  he  will  not 
leave  thinking  of  her,  but  live  in  that  detestable  Sin  still,  let 
him  go  to  their  Church  for  Absolution,  for  Comfort  he  can 
find  none  in  ours." 

Again,  a  Mr  E.  R.  writes  to  Sir  R.  Puckering 2 :—"  The 

1  "  Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  ii.  p.  73. 

2  "  Court  and  Times  of  Charles  I.,"  vol  ii.  p.  242. 


308  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

last  week  we  had  certain  news  that  the  Lady  Purbeck  was 
declared  a  papist  ;  and  that  she  had  engaged  their  Majesties 
of  France  and  the  Cardinal  Richelieu  to  move  the  Kingjof 
England  for  her  pardon,  and  that  she  may  come  over. 
They  do  undertake  it,  and  to  that  purpose  they  have  sent 
instructions  hither  to  their  ambassador  extraordinary,  who 
is  very  zealous  in  the  business.  The  lady  hath  written  a 
long  letter  of  three  sheets  to  her  majesty,  the  story  of  her 
life  from  her  very  childhood  to  her  conversion,  humbly  de 
siring  her  majesty  to  intercede  for  her  pardon.  She  hath 
also  written  to  the  Duchess  of  Buckingham  and  to  some 
other  of  the  great  ladies,  to  take  off  (sic)  my  Lord's  Grace 
of  Canterbury.  It  is  said  she  is  altogether  advised  by  Sir 
Kenelm  Digby,  who  indeed  hath  written  over  letters  to 
some  of  his  noble  friends  of  the  privy  council,  wherein  he 
sets  down  what  convert  this  lady  is  become,  so  superlatively 
virtuous  and  sanctimonious,  as  the  like  hath  rarely  been 
either  in  men  or  women  :  and  therefore  he  does  most  humbly 
desire  their  lordships  to  farther  this  lady's  peace,  and  that 
she  may  return  into  England,  for  otherwise  she  does  resolve 
to  put  herself  into  some  monastery.  I  hear  his  majesty 
does  utterly  dislike  that  the  lady  is  so  much  directed 
by  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  and  that  she  fares  nothing  better 
for  it." 

But  this  is  not  the  end  of  the  story ;  for  not  only  did  the 
lady  escape  her  penance,  but  Sir  Robert  applied  for  damages 
for  false  imprisonment,  when  the  Long  Parliament  was  in 
power,  and  was  awarded  £1000 ;  that  is  to  say,  £500  from 
Laud,  and  £250  each  from  Martin  and  Lambe,  who  were 
judges  in  the  Court.1  Laud  writes :— "  I  payd  it,  to  satisfie 
the  Command  of  the  House:  but  was  not  therein  so  well 
advised  as  I  might  have  been,  being  Committed  for  Treason'' 

Our  divorce  courts  might  be  less  popular  if  the  delinquents 
were  made  to  stand,  barefooted  and  in  white  sheets,  in  the 
churches  in  one  or  more  parishes  in  which  they  had  given 
scandal,  as  in  the  days  of  Laud.  Among  Laud's  papers  is 
also  a  form  of  penance  and  reconciliation  for  renegades  or 

1  Lingard's  "  Hist.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 


xviithcem.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  309 

apostates,1  which  one  would  imagine  must  have  been  an 
obstacle  calculated  to  stand  much  in  the  way  of  the  return  to 
the  fold  of  a  lost  sheep. 

After  various  preliminaries,  including  the  penitent's  formal 
excommunication,  both  in  his  own  parish  church  and  in  the 
cathedral  of  his  diocese,  he  is  to  appear,  on  a  Sunday,  in  "  the 
porch  of  the  church,  if  it  have  any,  if  none,  yet  without  the 
church  door,  if  extremity  of  weather  hinder  not,  in  a  penitent 
white  sheet,  and  with  a  white  wand  in  his  hand,  his  head  un 
covered,  his  countenance  dejected,  not  taking  particular  notice 
of  any  person  that  passeth  by  him."  He  is  to  kneel  and 
say  to  people  going  into  the  church: — "Good  Christians, 
remember  in  your  prayers  a  poor  wretched  apostate,  or 
renegado."  A  judicious  N.B.  is  appended  : — "  Order  must 
be  taken  that  boys  and  idle  people  flock  not  about  him." 

On  the  second  Sunday  he  is  to  be  allowed  to  stand  inside 
the  porch,  and  when  the  Te  Deum  has  been  sung,  one  of  the 
church-wardens  is  to  bring  him  into  the  church  and  place  him 
on  the  west  side  of  the  font,  where  he  is  to  kneel  until  the  end 
of  the  second  lesson,  when  he  is  to  read  a  long  act  of  contrition 
and  then  go  back  to  his  place  in  the  porch. 

On  the  third  Sunday  he  is  to  stand  in  his  sheet  "  near  unto 
the  minister's  pew."  "  The  clergyman  is  to  take  no  notice  of 
him  until  just  before  the  Apostle's  creed,  when  he  shall  publicly 
put  the  offender  in  mind  of  the  foulness  of  his  sin,  and  stir 
him  up  to  a  serious  repentance,  advising  him  that  a  slight 
and  ordinary  sorrow  is  not  enough  for  so  grievous  an  offence." 

The  penitent  is  then  to  read  a  long  confession,  and  the 
minister  an  exhortation  to  the  congregation  to  forgive  him. 
Then  the  penitent  is  to  read  another  long  form,  begging  for 
absolution,  which  the  minister  is  at  once  to  administer.  After 
this,  the  clergyman  is  to  kneel,  facing  eastward,  and  the 
penitent  in  his  sheet  is  to  kneel  behind  him.  More,  and  very 
long,  prayers  are  to  be  recited,  and  finally,  the  white  sheet  is 
to  be  taken  off  the  repentant  sinner,  and  the  minister  is  to 
inform  him  that  he  may  be  admitted  to  receive  the  sacrament 
"upon  any  communion-day  following." 

1  "  Lib.  Ang.  Cath.  Theol.,"  part  v.  vol.  ii.  pp.  373  and  following. 


310  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

When  we  reflect  that  this  ceremony  did  not  seem  a  likely 
bait  to  win  back  a  "  renegade,"  it  may  be  well  to  remember 
that,  in  those  times,  the  civil  disabilities  of  a  formally  excom 
municated  person  were  so  inconvenient,  so  many,  and  so  great, 
as  to  make  life  scarcely  worth  living,  and  that  it  may  have 
been  desirable,  for  purely  temporal  reasons,  to  go  through  the 
form  of  this  tedious  penance. 

The  marvel  is  that,  with  all  these  severities,  bold  tricks 
were  sometimes  played  in  churches.  Several  are  mentioned 
in  the  course  of  this  volume,  and  not  long  after  the  date  of 
the  present  chapter,  when  the  king  and  Laud  went  solemnly 
to  thank  God  for  the  judges'  decision  that  he  could  levy  ship- 
money,  someone  actually  bribed  the  leading  chorister  to  sing, 
instead  of  the  proper  psalms  for  the  day,  the  Ixxxii.,  which 
contains  the  words,  "How  long  will  ye  give  wrong  judgment?" 
"  They  will  not  be  learned  nor  understand,  but  walk  on  still 
in  darkness,"  and  "  Ye  shall  die  like  men  :  and  fall  like  one  of 
the  princes."  The  judges  "  were  very  angry  and  Canterbury 
put  the  youth  in  prison  for  not  saying  who  gave  him  the 
money."  1 

1  Transcript  from  Papal  Registers  relating  to  Eng.  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  MSS.  15, 
390,  1638,  torn,  vii.,  fol.  74. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

WE  shall  now  have  to  concentrate  our  attention  for  a  time 
on  Scotland,  a  country  from  which  a  cloud  arose  that  was  to 
sweep  England  with  the  storm  in  which  Laud  was  to  perish. 

When  Charles  had  returned  from  the  North  in  1633,  he  had 
brought  with  him  unfading  memories  of  the  opposition  which 
he  had  experienced  in  the  Scottish  Parliament,  and  he  left 
behind  him  disloyal  feelings  among  his  subjects  no  less  bitter  ; 
these  were  still  further  increased  by  his  ill-advised,  and 
practically  fruitless,  prosecution  of  Lord  Balmerino. 

It  was  over  ecclesiastical  affairs  that  the  storm  was  to 
burst.  The  king's  father,  James  I.,  at  Laud's  suggestion,  had 
induced  the  General  Assembly,  much  against  its  inclination, 
to  authorise  the  drawing  up  of  a  code  of  ecclesiastical  law 
and  the  preparation  of  a  liturgy  in  the  year  1616.  This 
liturgy  was  composed,  and,  after  the  king  himself  had  altered 
it  a  little  with  his  own  pen,  it  was  sent  back  to  the  Scotch 
bishops  ;  but  so  strong  was  the  feeling  in  the  country  against 
it,  that  it  did  not  come  into  general  use  ;  neither  did  the  so- 
called  "  Canons  of  the  Assembly  of  Perth."  Indeed  James 
was  much  annoyed  with  Laud  for  having  proposed  the  use 
of  a  liturgy  for  Scotland  at  all,  and  still  more  for  urging  that 
it  should  be  enforced  upon  the  unwilling  people.  "  He  feared 
not  mine  Anger,"  said  he  to  Williams,1  "  but  assaulted  me 
again  with  another  ill-fangled  Platform,  to  make  that  stub 
born  Kirk  stoop  more  to  the  English  Pattern.  But  I  durst 
not  play  fast  and  loose  with  my  Word.  He  knows  not  the 
Stomach  of  that  People." 

Some  time  after  his  son  Charles  I.  had  come  to  the  throne 
—in  1629,  in  fact — the  matter  was  revived,  it  is  generally 
believed  at  Laud's  suggestion,  albeit  he  denied  it  at  his  trial. 

1  "  Scrinia  Reserata,"  p.  64. 

3" 


3  T  2  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [irt?64l637' 

The  accusation  ran  x :  — "  He  hath  maliciously  and  Trayter- 
ously  Plotted,  and  endeavoured  to  stir  up  War  and  Enmity 
betwixt  his  Majesty's  two  Kingdoms  of  England  and  Scot 
land  ;  and  to  that  purpose  hath  laboured  to  introduce  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Scotland  divers  Innovations  both  in  Religion 
and  Government,  all  or  the  most  part  tending  to  Popery  and 
Superstition." 

In  Laud's  reply,  he  says  : — "  Nor  did  I  labour  to  introduce 
into  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland  any  Innovations  in  Religion 
or  Government."  Presently  he  mentions  "  that  Service-Book" 
and  says  he  will  "  set  down  briefly  what  was  done." 

"  Dr  John  Maxwel,  the  late  Bishop  of  Ross,  came  to  me 
from  his  Majesty,  it  was  during  the  time  of  a  great  and  dan 
gerous  Fever,  under  which  I  then  laboured."  "  The  Cause  of 
his  coming  was  to  speak  with  me  about  a  Liturgy  for  Scot 
land.  At  his  coming  I  was  so  extream  111,  that  I  saw  him 
not."  "  When  I  was  able  to  sit  up,  he  came  to  me  again,  and 
told  me  it  was  his  Majesty's  Pleasure,  that  I  should  receive 
Instructions  from  some  Bishops  of  Scotland  concerning  a 
Liturgy  for  that  Church ;  and  that  he  was  imployed  from  my 
Lord  the  Arch-Bishop  of  St  Andrews,  and  other  Prelates 
there  about  it.  I  told  him  that  I  was  clear  of  Opinion,  that 
if  his  Majesty  would  have  a  Liturgy  setled  there,  it  were  best 
to  take  the  English  Liturgy  without  any  variation,  that  so 
the  same  Service-Book  might  be  established  in  all  his  Majesty's 
Dominions." 

King  Charles,  on  this  point,  "  inclined  to  my  Opinion  "  ; 
but,  "  afterwards,  the  Scottish  Bishops  still  pressing  Jiis 
Majesty  that  a  Liturgy  Framed  by  themselves,  and  in  some 
few  things  different  from  ours,  would  relish  better  with  their 
Countrymen.  They  at  last  prevailed  with  his  Majesty,  to 
have  it  so,  and  carried  it  against  me,  notwithstanding  all  I 
could  say  or  do  to  the  contrary.  Then  his  Majesty  com 
manded  me  to  give  the  Bishops  of  Scotland  my  best  Assist 
ance  in  this  Way  and  Work.  I  delayed  as  much  as  I  could 
with  my  Obedience ;  and  when  nothing  would  serve,  but  it 
must  go  on,  I  confess  I  was  then  very  serious,  and  gave  the 
1  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.,"  &c.,  p.  167. 


Stca64l637']  L ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  3 1 3 

best  help  I  could."  "  And  I  do  verily  believe,  there  is  no  one 
thing  in  that  Book,  which  may  not  stand  with  the  Conscience 
of  a  right  Good  Protestant." 

I  commend  this  expression  of  the  great  founder  of  High 
Anglicanism,  as  some  will  have  him  to  be,  to  my  ritualist 
friends.  "  A  right  Good  Protestant !  "  There  is  an  honest, 
genuine  ring  in  these  words,  which  they  may  well  take  to 
heart.  Whether  a  liturgy,  which  had  rather  more  in  common 
with  the  Roman  Missal  than  the  Anglican,  would  relish  better 
with  the  Scotch  Presbyterians,  was  at  least  doubtful.  That 
adopted  varied  but  little  from  the  present  curious  Communion 
Office  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  which  first  uses  the  prayer  of 
consecration  and  afterwards  prays  that  the  "  Creatures  of 
Bread  and  Wine "  "  may  become  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ."  A  very  dubious  criticism  upon  the  efficacy  of  the 
consecration  !  An  invocation,  from  which  this  was  probably 
copied,  occurs  in  the  Missal ;  but,  of  course,  before  instead  of 
after  the  consecration.  Even  in  our  own  times,  the  Scottish 
Liturgy  has  been  regarded  from  different  points  of  view. 
Dean  Stanley  wrote1: — "The  Scottish  Prayer-Book  (with  one 
exception,  that  of  the  words  of  administering  the  Eucharistic 
elements)  was,  not  as  is  often  erroneously  supposed  by  both 
sides,  more  Roman  and  less  Protestant  than  the  English, 
but  in  all  essential  points  was  more  Protestant  and  less 
Roman." 

I  see  no  reason  for  doubting  Laud's  account  of  the  matter ; 
but,  whether  the  Scottish  Liturgy  was  a  little  "  higher  "  or  a 
little  "  lower "  than  the  Anglican,  does  not  affect  the  point 
that  Laud,  from  first  to  last,  did  all  in  his  power  to  thrust  a 
liturgy  upon  the  Scotch. 

A  little  further  on,  Laud  continues,  in  his  written  account 
of  his  defence  at  his  trial 2 : — "  And  here  I  take  leave  to 
acquaint  the  Reader,  That  this  was  no  new  Conceit  of  His 
Majesty,  to  have  a  Liturgy  framed,  and  Canons  made  for 
the  Church  of  Scotland  :  For  he  followed  his  Royal  Father 

1  "Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland."     By  Arthur  Penrhyn 
Stanley.     1872.     P.  43. 

2  "Hist,  of  the  Troub.,"  &c.,  p.  170. 


314  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud. 

King  James  his  Example  and  Care  therein,  who  took  Order 
for  both  at  the  Assembly  of  Perth,  An.  1618." 

Exactly,  and,  if  Racket  and  Williams  are  to  be  believed, 
his  Royal  Father,  as  we  have  already  shown,  declared  that 
Laud  himself  had  "  assaulted "  him  with  this  "  ill-fangled 
Platform,"  not  understanding  "  the  Stomach  of  that  people  "  ; 
and  so  ill-advised  did  James  consider  it  that  he  practically 
allowed  the  whole  matter  to  fall  into  abeyance. 

The  visit  of  Charles  I.  and  Laud  to  Scotland,  for  the 
coronation,  in  1633,  was  the  precursor  of  decided  action  on 
their  part  in  respect  to  ecclesiastical  matters  in  that  country. 
It  took  some  time  to  complete  the  new  liturgy,  and  when  it 
was  ready,  the  king,  who,  be  it  remembered,  was  not  legally 
the  head  of  the  Church  in  Scotland,  as  he  was  in  England, 
enjoined  its  use,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Book  of  Canons,  by 
"  his  authority  royal."  T 

James  was  quite  right  when  he  implied  that  Laud  did  not 
understand  the  Scotch.  They  had  been  in  the  habit  of  boast 
ing  "  that  they  were  not,  as  the  ministers  in  other  churches, 
fettered  and  shackled  with  forms  and  rubrics," 2  says  Lingard  ; 
and  the  moment  that  the  obligatory  use  of  the  new  liturgy 
was  announced,  there  was  an  uproar,  not  only  among  the 
people,  but  from  the  pulpits.  So  great  and  loud  was  the 
outcry  that  the  bishops  themselves  trembled  for  the  probable 
result  of  the  using  of  the  new  prayer-book,  or  "  the  buke,"  as 
it  was  called  in  the  North  ;  and  even  in  the  South  of  England 
certain  misgivings  may  have  been  experienced. 

At  last,  it  became  known  in  Edinburgh  that  on  a  certain 
day  the  new  liturgy  would  be  used  for  the  first  time  in  the 
high  church,  which  had  been  made  the  cathedral.  The 
bishop  and  the  dean,  accompanied  by  the  lords  of  the 
Council,  and  the  judges  and  magistrates,  went  thither  in 
solemn  state.  The  building  was  crowded,  the  devout  female 
sex  being  very  strongly  represented. 

The  dean  nervously  began  to  read  the  service,  and  was  not 
set  at  his  ease  by  the  groans,  which  gradually  developed  into 
hisses,  that  arose  from  the  congregation.  A  small  fraction  of 

1  "Bib.  Regia.,"  pp.  136,  138;  Balfour,  ii.  224. 


StC641637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  315 

it,  however,  was  more  orthodox,  and  even  ventured  to  repeat 
the  responses.  "  Ane  godly  woman,"  Balfour,  who  did  not 
sympathise  with  High-Churchism,  tells  us  in  Stoniefield  Day, 
"  when  sche  har<}  a  young  man  behind  sounding  forth  amen 
to  that  new  composed  comedie,  sche  quicklie  turned  her 
about,  and  after  sche  had  warmed  both  his  cheeks  with  the 
weight  of  her  hands,  sche  thus  shot  against  him  the  thunder 
bolt  of  her  zeal : — '  False  thief,'  said  sche,  '  is  there  na  uther 
pairt  of  the  churche  to  sing  mess  in  but  thou  must  sing  it  at 
my  lugge  ? '  " 

Other  ladies  yelled  out  that  "  the  mass  was  entered,  that 
Baal  was  in  the  church."  Nor  did  the  poor  dean,  who  was 
reading  the  service,  escape  personal  remarks.  He  was  "  a 
thief,  a  devil's  gett,  and  of  a  witche's  breeding."  Neverthe 
less,  in  spite  of  these  and  other  opprobrious  epithets,  he  stuck 
to  his  post  and  read  away  manfully  at  his  "  divine  service." 

Finding  that  barking  produced  no  effect,  a  valiant  old 
Scotchwoman  thought  the  time  had  arrived  for  biting. 
Stealthily  taking  in  her  hand  the  stool  on  which  she  had 
been  sitting,  she  hurled  it  at  the  head  of  the  unhappy  dean. 
It  was  a  very  fair  shot  ;  it  is  true  that  it  just  missed  its  mark, 
but  it  flew  within  a  few  inches  of  the  dean's  nose. 

He  winced.  The  bishop  observed  it  and  boldly  took  the 
place  of  honour,  believing  that  the  dignity  of  his  office  would 
be  respected,  and  began  to  read.  He  could  scarcely  hear  his 
own  voice  for  the  loud  cries  of  "  fox  ;  wolf ;  belly-god  " — 
this  was  an  ungraceful  allusion  to  his  corpulency.  Presently 
a  stool,  deftly  flung,  almost  grazed  his  ear.  "  Neither,"  says 
Balfour,  "  could  that  lubberly  monster  with  his  satine  gown 
defend  himself  by  his  swollen  hands  and  greasy  belly,  but  he 
had  half  a  dissen  seek  fishes  to  a  reckoning."  Clasped  Bibles 
now  began  to  hurtle  through  the  air  in  the  direction  of  the 
"satine  gown."  Worse  still,  there  were  unmistakable  symp 
toms  of  riot  from  without  as  well  as  within.  Stones  came 
crashing  through  the  windows,  amidst  cries  of  "  A  pape,  a 
pape,  anti-christ,  stane  him  ;  pull  him  down." 

The    magistrates    had    by   this    time   turned   most   of  the 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 


3 1 6  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  [S^637' 

rioters  out  of  the  church,  and  the  doors  were  locked  ;  but  the 
storm  of  stones  through  the  windows  increased,  and  it  vented 
its  force  in  the  direction  of  the  bishop,  who  thought  it  high 
time  to  beat  a  retreat. 

The  service,  between  one  minister  and  another,  was  got 
through  somehow,  and  the  bishop  was  not  sorry  to  leave  his 
cathedral  for  his  lodgings  in  the  High  Street.  On  his  way 
thither,  he  was  followed  by  a  crowd  of  "godly  women." 
He  hastened  his  steps,  and  just  succeeded  in  reaching  his 
door  before  they  caught  him.  To  his  disgust,  they  came 
into  the  house  after  him.  He  ran  upstairs  :  they  ran  after 
him.  A  party  of  stalwart  women  soon  had  him  in  their  close 
embraces,  and  carrying  their  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God 
down  his  own  staircase,  they  took  him  through  the  door  and 
delivered  him  to  the  crowd  of  she-saints  waiting  in  the  street, 
who  rolled  him  in  the  muddy  gutter. 

At  the  afternoon  service,  ladies  were  excluded,  and  it  was 
performed  in  moderate  quiet  ;  but  when  the  bishop  started 
for  it,  his  appearance  in  the  street  was  more  than  the  "  gude 
weiffes  "  could  resist,  and  they  greeted  him  with  a  volley  of 
stones.  Fortunately,  Lord  Roxburgh  hurried  him  into  his 
carriage  and  drove  him  to  a  safe  asylum  at  Holyrood, 
followed,  however,  the  whole  way,  by  a  crowd  of  shrieking 
women  and  showers  of  stones. 

Edinburgh  was  not  the  only  city  in  which  strong  exception 
was  taken  to  the  new  liturgy.  In  a  synod  at  Glasgow,  a  Mr 
Annan  had  spoken  favourably  of  "  the  buke  "  in  his  sermon. 
"  At  the  outgoing  of  the  church,"  says  a  contemporary  writer,1 
"  about  thirty  or  forty  of  our  honestest  women,  in  one  voice 
before  the  bishop  and  magistrates,  fell  a  railing,  cursing, 
scolding,  with  clamours  on  Mr  Annan."  "  He  is  no  sooner 
in  the  street  at  nine  o'clock,  in  a  dark  night,  with  three  or  four 
ministers  with  him,  but  some  hundreds  of  enraged  women  of 
all  qualities  are  about  him  with  neaves,  staves,  and  peats,  but 
no  stones.  They  beat  him  sore.  His  cloak,  hat,  and  ruff 
were  rent.  However  he  escaped  all  bloody  wounds,  yet  he 
was  in  great  danger  even  of  killing." 

i  Baillie,  8. 


Circa 


of  Archbishop  Laud.  317 


The  news  of  the  result  of  attempting  to  force  a  liturgy 
upon  the  Scotch  reached  Laud,  the  man  who  was  reputed  to 
be  the  author  of  it,  early  one  morning. 

It  was  not  calculated  to  put  him  into  a  good  humour.  He 
was  intensely  irritated,  and  he  started  for  Whitehall  to  attend 
the  Council,  brooding  over  the  failure  of  one  of  his  favourite 
projects.  On  his  way  thither,  he  met  Archie  Armstrong, 
the  court  jester.  A  fool,  whether  real  or  pretended,  was  not 
a  character  suited  to  the  taste  of  so  matter-of-fact  a  man  as 
Laud,  and  this  particular  jester  was  specially  odious  to  him  ; 
for  it  is  said *  that  at  a  banquet  at  which  the  archbishop  was 
present,  Archie  had  volunteered  to  say  grace,  which  he  pro 
ceeded  to  do  in  the  following  words  : — "  Great  praise  be  to 
God,  and  little  laud  to  the  Devil."  When,  therefore,  Laud 
met  the  court  jester — the  last  but  one  in  English  history, 
according  to  Dr  Doran — on  his  way  to  the  Council,  his 
already  exasperated  nerves  were  still  further  irritated.  There 
was  no  escape,  however,  and  he  was  obliged  to  pass  close  to 
the  fool.  Archie,  in  his  motley,  cap,  and  bells,  bowed  mock 
ingly  before  the  little  archbishop  in  his  rochet  and  lawn 
sleeves.  "  News  from  Scotland,  your  Grace,"  said  he.  "  Who  Js 
the  fool  now  ?" 

This  was  more  than  Laud  could  endure.  Boiling  over 
with  passion,  he  went  at  once  to  the  king  and  complained 
of  the  insult  which  had  been  offered  to  him  by  his  jester. 
Although  Archie  had  been  in  his  service  since  he  ascended 
the  throne,  as  well  as  in  that  of  his  father,  King  James,  before 
him,  King  Charles  gave  orders  for  his  dismissal  then  and  there. 
Archie  pleaded  the  privileges  of  his  coat,  but  all  in  vain,  as  the 
following  order,  dated  Whitehall,  I  ith  March,  1637,  will  show  : 
— "  It  is  this  day  ordered  by  His  Majesty,  with  the  advice 
of  the  board,  that  Archibald  Armstrong,  the  King's  fool,  for 
certain  scandalous  words  of  a  high  nature,  spoken  by  him 
against  the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  his  Grace,  and 
proved  to  be  uttered  by  him,  by  two  witnesses,  shall 
have  his  coat  pulled  over  his  head,  and  be  discharged  the 
King's  service,  and  banished  the  court,  for  which  the  Lord 

1  "  History  of  Court  Fools,"  by  Dr  Doran,  p.  204. 


318  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Chamberlain  of  the  King's  Household  is  prayed  and  required 
to  give  order  to  be  executed.  And  immediately  the  same 
was  put  in  execution." 

A  writer  in  "  Phcenix  Britannicus "  x  says  that  he  after 
wards  met  Archie  in  Westminster  Abbey  in  a  suit  of  black, 
and  sympathised  with  him  over  the  loss  of  his  brilliant 
jester's  coat.  "'Oh,'  quoth  he,  'my  Lord  of  Canterbury 
hath  taken  it  from  me,  because  either  he  or  some  of  the 
Scots  bishops  may  have  the  use  of  it  themselves.  But  he 
hath  given  me  a  black  coat  for  it ;  and  now  I  may  speak 
what  I  please,  so  it  be  not  against  the  prelates,  for  this  coat 
hath  a  greater  privilege  than  the  other  had.' " 

Laud  had  lost  Archie  Armstrong  his  place  at  court  and 
his  means  of  livelihood,  while  he  himself  remained  in  royal 
favour  ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  archbishop  was  on  the 
eve  of  the  downfall  which  was  to  end  in  his  execution, 
whereas  the  ex-clown  had  already  amply  feathered  his  nest, 
and,  after  retiring  to  his  native  place  in  Cumberland,  marry 
ing,  and  living  in  wealth  and  comfort  to  a  good  old  age,  he 
died  a  natural  death,  very  many  years  after  the  heads  of  the 
king  who  dismissed  him  and  the  prelate  who  accused  him 
had  fallen  on  the  scaffold. 

It  was  long  before  matters  showed  any  symptoms  of  mend 
ing;  in  Scotland.  Laud  had  himself  chosen  and  nominated 

o 

several  of  the  Scotch  bishops,  with  whom  he  kept  up  a  cor 
respondence,  and  he  may  have  been  misled  by  their  reports. 
The  Archbishop  of  St  Andrews  advised  the  suppression  of 
"  the  Buke."  After  that  first  terrible  day  of  its  introduction, 
he  said  : — "The  labour  of  thirty  years  is  lost  for  ever  in  one 
day " ;  but  the  younger  bishops  of  Laud's  selection  were  in 
favour  of  fighting  the  matter  out.  The  Lord  Treasurer  of  the 
Scottish  Council,  the  Earl  of  Traquair,  was  supposed  to  have 
sympathised  with  Laud,  and  to  have  made  things  no  better 
by  his  want  of  tact. 

On  the  other  hand,  Laud,  in  his  letters  to  Wentworth, 
accuses  him  of  blundering,  if  not  of  treachery,  and  Heylin, 
in  enumerating  the  causes  of  the  failure  of  the  attempt  to 

1  I  quote  from  "Court  Fools,"  p.  207. 


Srt?641637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  319 

enforce  the  use  of  a  liturgy  in  Scotland,  writes  l : — "  That 
which  appears  first  is  the  confidence  which  Canterbury  had  in 
the  Earl  of  Traquaire,  whom  he  had  raised  from  the  condition 
of  a  private  Laird  to  be  a  Peer  of  that  Realm,  made  him  first 
Treasurer  Deputy  (Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  we  should 
call  him  in  England],  afterwards  Lord  Treasurer  and  Privy 
Counsellor  of  that  Kingdom.  This  man  wrought  himself  so 
far  into  Laud's  good  liking,  when  he  was  Bishop  of  London 
only,  that  he  looked  upon  him  as  the  fittest  minister  to 
promote  the  Service  of  that  Church,  taking  him  into  his 
nearest  thoughts,  communicating  to  him  all  his  counsels, 
committed  to  his  care  the  conduct  of  the  whole  Affair,  and 
giving  orders  to  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  Scotland,  not 
to  do  any  thing  without  his  privity  and  direction.  But  being 
a  Hamiltonian  Scot  (either  originally  such,  or  brought  over 
at  last)  he  treacherously  betrayed  the  cause,  communicated 
his  Instructions  to  the  opposite  Faction  from  one  time  to 
another,  and  conscious  of  the  plot  for  the  next  days  tumult, 
withdrew  himself  to  the  Earl  of  Morton's  house  of  Dalkeith 
to  expect  the  issue." 

Lingard's  reply  to  this  accusation  is  much  to  the  point,  be 
its  value  what  it  may  2 : — "  The  failure  of  every  measure  pre 
scribed  by  Charles  induced  the  prelatic  party  to  accuse 
Traquair  of  treachery ;  his  best  justification  will  be  found  in 
the  conduct  of  his  opponents,  who  pursued  him  with  unre 
lenting  hatred,  as  their  most  vigilant  and  most  dangerous 
enemy." 

I  do  not  think  that  Laud  would  have  laid  blame  on  another 
unjustly,  had  he  been  aware  that  he  was  doing  so  ;  the  blame 
again,  in  this  instance,  may  have  been  due  ;  but,  in  cases  of 
failure,  there  is  a  great  temptation  to  account  for  the  want  of 
success  of  one's  own  "  admirable  plans,"  on  the  score  of  the 
clumsy,  or  the  dishonest,  executions  of  some  one  to  whom 
they  have  been  entrusted. 

The  Scottish  Council  suspended  the  use  of  the  book ; 
King  Charles  sent  a  messenger  to  reprove  that  Council,  and 
commanded  the  renewal  of  its  use.  A  second  time  it  was 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  P./328.  2  "Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 


320  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  [g™;637' 

suspended,  and  again  did  Charles  order  its  enforcement.  An 
angry  crowd  hung  about  Edinburgh  protesting  against  "  the 
Buke,"  and  the  authorities  became  alarmed.  The  petitioners 
kept  increasing  in  numbers,  and  formed  committees,  under  the 
name  of  the  Four  Tables,  representing  the  nobles,  the  gentry, 
the  clergy,  and  the  burghers,  to  promulgate  their  opinions, 
and  to  deal  with  the  authorities  on  the  subject.  The  Tables 
demanded  the  revocation  by  the  Government  of  the  book  of 
canons,  of  the  liturgy,  and  of  the  Court  of  High  Commission. 
The  affair  was  beginning  to  wear  the  look  of  a  rebellion,  the 
more  dangerous  because  men  in  the  position  of  Lord  Rothes, 
Lord  Balmerino,  Lord  Lindsay,  Lord  Lothian,  Lord  Loudon, 
and  other  influential  magnates,  were  supporting  it 

Traquair  condemned  the  Tables  as  unlawful,  but  offered  to 
pardon  all  who  should  at  once  return  peaceably  to  their 
homes.  This  order  was  publicly  read  and  posted.  The 
petitioners  were  prepared  for  it,  and  the  herald  had  no  sooner 
finished  his  task,  than  they  read  a  counter-order  which  they 
had  drawn  up  themselves,  and  affixed  it  to  the  market- 
cross. 

A  still  stronger  measure  was  adopted  by  the  Puritan 
petitioners.  They  formed  "  a  Covenant,"  a  vow,  by  which  all 
the  subscribers  were  to  bind  themselves,  "  by  the  great  name 
of  the  Lord  their  God,"  to  defend  the  king ;  to  maintain  the 
true  religion  ;  and  to  resist  everything  that  might  be  contrary 
to  it,  i.e.,  to  the  opinions  of  the  Tables.  There  were  com 
mittees  all  over  Scotland,  and  they  summoned  everyone  who 
valued  the  true  Gospel  and  the  discipline  of  the  Kirk,  to  sign 
the  Covenant. 

A  great  fast  was  held  in  preparation,  and  on  a  certain  day 
all  the  faithful  who  were  within  reach  were  ordered  to  meet 
at  the  Church  of  the  Grey  Friars.  After  an  exciting  address 
from  Lord  Loudon,  the  whole  congregation  rose,  and  with 
outstretched  arms  swore  to  observe  the  Covenant.  The 
enthusiasm  spread  from  the  capital  to  the  provincial  towns, 
from  the  towns  to  the  villages,  and  from  the  villages  to  the 
most  remote  hamlets  and  huts  in  the  Highlands.  In  most 
places  the  Covenant  was  readily  and  eagerly  subscribed,  and 


38']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  32  r 

where  the  will  was  wanting,  compulsion  was  used.1  "  You 
could  not  have  chused  but  laugh  to  have  seen  the  pipers 
and  candle-makers  in  our  town  committed  to  the  town-jail  by 
our  zealous  Mr  Mayor  ;  and  herdmen  and  hiremen  laid  in 
the  stocks  up  and  down  the  country,  and  all  for  refusing  to  put 
their  hand  to  the  pen,  as  a  thousand  have  done,  who  cannot 
write,  indeed  ;  "  and  the  author  quoted  says  that  "  you  would 
have  laughed  better  to  have  seen  the  wives  in  Edinburgh," 
who  could  not  write,  holding  up  their  hands  as  a  sign  of  swear 
ing  to  the  Covenant,  "as  soldiers  do  when  they  pass  a  muster." 

Charles  resolved  to  put  down  the  Covenant  by  force.  He 
sent  the  Marquess  of  Hamilton  to  Scotland  as  his  Commis 
sioner,  with  a  promise  that  the  book  of  canons  and  the  liturgy 
should  not  be  pressed  upon  the  people  in  any  other  than  a 
fair  and  legal  manner,  and  that  the  High  Commission  should 
be  put  upon  a  footing  less  likely  to  be  offensive,  and  that  all 
who  had  signed  the  Covenant  should  be  pardoned,  provided 
they  would  at  once  renounce  it. 

Hamilton  soon  returned  to  London  with  a  despairing  re 
port  of  the  attitude  of  the  Covenanters,  and  after  making  a 
second  visit  to  the  North,  he  came  back  in  a  yet  more  dis 
couraged  state  of  mind.  Charles  thought  it  wiser  to  temporise : 
he  sent  Hamilton  to  Scotland  a  third  time,  with  orders  to 
command  the  people  to  renounce  the  Covenant,  at  the  same 
time  suspending  the  liturgy,  the  book  of  canons,  and  the  High 
Commission,  and  summoning  a  Parliament  for  the  following 
year,  as  well  as  a  free  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  for  an  earlier 
date.  Soon  after  he  had  started,  Charles  wrote  to  Hamilton : — 
"  Your  chief  end  being  now  to  win  time ;  that  they  may  com 
mit  more  follies,  until  I  be  ready  to  suppress  them."' 

The  leaders  of  the  Covenanters  were  not  deceived  by  this 
ruse  ;  for  they  were  privately  informed,  on  what  appeared 
good  authority,  that  Charles  was  only  endeavouring  tem 
porarily  to  pacify  them,  while  he  was  preparing  an  army  with 
which  to  enforce  every  obnoxious  measure  which  he  had  for 
the  moment  withdrawn,  and  they  were  much  encouraged  by 

1  Dalrymple,  ii.  25.     (I  quote  from  a  note  of  Lingard's.) 

2  Lingard,  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 

X 


322  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Ires.638' 

communications  from  puritanical  Englishmen,  who  proposed 
to  emigrate  to  the  northern  land  of  the  pure  Gospel,  if  the 
Scotchmen  would  but  be  firm.  "Anno  1638,  April  29," 
writes  Laud,1  "  The  Tumults  in  Scotland,  about  the  Service- 
Book  offered  to  be  brought  in,  began  July  23,  1637,  and  con 
tinued  increasing  by  fits,  and  hath  now  brought  that  Kingdom 
in  danger.  No  question,  but  there  is  a  great  Concurrence 
between  them,  and  the  Puritan  Party  in  England.  A  great 
aim  there  to  destroy  me  in  the  King's  Opinion."  Again,  he 
writes  to  Wentworth,  a  couple  of  months  later2: — "The 
Scotish  Business  is  extream  ill  indeed,  and  what  will  become 
of  it  God  knows,  but  certainly  no  good,  and  his  Majesty  has 
been  notoriously  betrayed  by  some  of  them." 

The  Covenanters  issued  a  formal  protest  in  reply  to  the 
Royal  Proclamation,  and  it  became  evident  to  both  sides  that 
a  crisis  was  imminent. 

The  General  Assembly  met  in  due  time,  the  election 
having  been  successfully  manipulated  by  the  supporters  of 
the  Tables.  Hamilton  attended,  in  his  office  of  Royal  Com 
missioner,  and,  after  having  been  opposed  on  every  point,  he 
rose  from  his  seat,  in  tears,  and  dissolved  the  Assembly, 
taking  the  opportunity,  not  only  of  denouncing  the  treasonable 
conduct  of  the  Covenanters,  but  also  of  blaming  the  ambition 
and  even  the  immorality  of  some  of  the  Scottish  bishops. 

The  Assembly  was  not  going  to  be  dissolved  at  the  com 
mand  of  the  representative  of  the  Crown  ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  continued  to  sit,  and  in  a  more  determined  frame  of  mind 
than  ever.  At  this  point,  the  hitherto  doubtful  Earl  of 
Argyle  joined  it,  and  a  resolution  was  passed  that  in  spiritual 
matters  the  Kirk  was  independent  of  the  king  and  the  civil 
power ;  "  the  buke,"  the  canons,  and  the  High  Commission 
were  condemned  ;  Episcopacy  was  abolished  ;  the  bishops 
and  their  clergy  were  excommunicated,  and  a  day  of  national 
thanksgiving  was  proclaimed  for  the  merciful  deliverance  of 
Scotland  from  the  yoke  of  Prelacy  and  Popery. 

Both  countries,  England  and  Scotland,  immediately  began 
to  prepare  for  war. 

1  Diary,  p.  55.  2  "  Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  ii.  p.  185. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

COMPARISONS  have  often  been  made  between  the  great 
ecclesiastic  who  virtually  ruled  France,  at  the  period  of 
which  I  am  writing,  and  the  subject  of  my  biography ;  per 
haps  a  life  of  Laud  would  scarcely  be  complete  without 
one. 

Certain  characteristics  and  certain  accidents  of  fortune 
were  common  to  both  men.  Each  was  the  son  of  far  from 
wealthy,  if  well-to-do,  parents  ;  there,  however,  the  similarity 
in  their  beginnings  ended,  as  Richelieu  was  a  man  of  old 
family,  and  Laud  was  of  comparatively  low  birth.  Both  were 
born  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century ;  both 
were  exceedingly  ambitious  ;  both  became  ecclesiastics,  both 
became  bishops, — real  or  otherwise, — both  used  their  clerical 
positions  as  stepping  stones  to  political  power  ;  both,  in  time, 
ruled  the  rulers  of  their  country  ;  both  made  many  bitter 
enemies  ;  both  men  died  within  the  same  decade. 

I  think  it  will  be  pretty  generally  admitted  that,  as  a 
statesman,  Richelieu  was  immeasurably  superior  to  Laud  ; 
as  a  man,  in  respect  to  disposition,  honesty  of  purpose,  trust 
worthiness,  and  general  good  feeling,  and  apart  from  the 
right  or  wrong  of  the  religions  professed  by  either,  I  venture 
to  think  that  the  palm  should  be  given  to  Laud. 

One  great  distinction  between  the  conduct  of  the  two  men 
was  their  treatment  of  the  Calvinists,  whom  both  hated. 
Laud  never  spared  them  ;  Richelieu,  stern  and  severe  as  he 
was  in  many  matters,  treated  them  with,  for  those  times, 
considerable  tolerance.  It  is  true  that  he  instigated  the 
siege  of  La  Rochelle,  and  that  he  crushed  the  power  of  the 
Huguenots  as  a  political  body ;  but  the  cause  of  his  so  doing 
had  been  the  unwise  action  of  Henry  IV.,  in  making  the 
Huguenots  an  imperium  in  imperio  by  establishing  their 

323 


324  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

political  status  in  the  Edict  of  Nantes  ;  and  even  when  he 
had  reduced  the  power  of  the  Protestants  as  to  matters  con 
nected  with  the  State,  and  had  razed  their  fortifications  and 
castles  to  the  ground,  he  neither  demolished  their  churches 
nor  interfered  with  them  in  the  practice  of  their  religion. 
He  not  only  adopted  an  opposite  policy  to  that  of  Laud 
in  his  treatment  of  the  Calvinists,  but  actually  gave  the 
Calvinistic  Scottish  Covenanters  assistance  in  their  struggle 
against  Laud. 

In  matters  concerning  his  Church,  Laud  was  absolutely 
uncompromising  ;  so  also,  in  religious  matters,  was  Richelieu  ; 
but  he  sent  the  Marquis  de  Cceuvres  with  a  Swiss  army 
against  the  Papal  troops,  when  they  were  protecting  the 
communication  of  the  Spaniards  with  the  German  Empire 
through  the  passes  of  the  Alps. 

Laud  was  not  made  a  bishop  (so-called)  until  he  was 
forty-eight ;  Richelieu  was  consecrated  bishop  at  the  age  of 
twTenty-three  ;  Laud  was  deposed  and  executed  ;  Richelieu, 
although  he  fell  at  one  time  into  temporary  disgrace,  was  in 
the  plenitude  of  his  power  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Honestly  and  disinterestedly  as  Laud  served  his  country, 
he  never  secured  for  it  a  fair  province  like  Lorraine,  nor 
humbled  mighty  enemies  like  Spain  and  Austria,  nor  built  a 
palace  like  the  Palais  Royale  and  presented  it  to  his  king, 
nor  founded  an  institution  like  the  French  Academy  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  Laud's  ambition  was  more  moderate,  his  self- 
esteem  was  humility  in  comparison  with  Richelieu's  vanity, 
and  his  persecution  of  his  personal  enemies  was  somewhat 
less  cruel  ;  yet  Richelieu,  on  his  deathbed,  when  asked  by  his 
confessor  if  he  forgave  his  enemies,  replied  that  he  had  never 
had  any,  except  those  of  the  State ;  he  never  oppressed  the 
people  with  exorbitant  taxes  or  subsidies — a  point  on  which 
Laud  had  the  reputation  of  having  given  questionable  advice; 
if  Richelieu  punished  severely,  he  rewarded  generously ;  and 
his  disposal  of  ecclesiastical  dignities  was  generally  based 
rather  on  the  virtue  and  learning  of  the  recipients  than  on 
the  question  of  the  party  to  which  they  belonged,  which,  I 
fear,  is  more  than  could  always  be  said  of  Laud. 


Srtca641637']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  325 

I  must  now  describe  the  manner  in  which  Richelieu's  in 
fluence  came  to  be  used  adversely  to  Laud's  policy  and 
interests,  and  to  do  this  some  apparent  digression  may  be 
necessary. 

Richelieu  was  deeply  interested  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
in  which,  after  first  making  a  treaty  with  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
and  assisting  him  with  money,  he  joined  openly  in  1635,  and 
endeavoured  to  turn  to  the  aggrandisement  of  France.  One 
contemplated  move  in  his  game  was  to  seize  the  maritime 
towns  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and  in  order  to  do  so,  he 
desired  to  make  sure  of  the  neutrality  of  England.  Accord 
ingly,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  disposition  of  the 
English  Crown  and  Cabinet,  he  sent  Count  D'Estrades  to 
England,  armed  with  private  instructions,  in  the  year  1637. 

He  was  well  aware  that  he  himself  was  not  in  the  best 
of  favour,  at  that  time,  with  the  Queen  of  England,  whose 
mother,  Marie  de  Medicis,  he  had  lately  quarrelled  with  ; 
but  he  told  D'Estrades  to  assure  her  of  his  good  will  and  his 
anxiety  to  serve  her  interests. 

D'Estrades  carried  two  letters  in  his  pocket  for  Henrietta 
Maria — one  from  Richelieu,  the  other  from  her  brother,  the 
King  of  Erance.  If  he  found  that  he  could  soothe  her 
animosity  towards  the  cardinal,  he  was  to  present  the  former, 
if  not,  the  latter  only.  He  soon  found  that  to  induce  her  to 
trust  Richelieu  would  be  impossible,  so  he  gave  her  the  letter 
from  Louis  XIII.,  which  implored  her  to  do  all  that  lay  in 
her  power  to  persuade  her  husband,  King  Charles,  to  guaran 
tee  his  neutrality.  She  replied  to  D'Estrades  that  she  "  never 
intermeddled  in  affairs  of  this  nature,"  but,  to  please  her 
brother,  she  promised  to  mention  the  subject  to  the  king,  and 
she  asked  D'Estrades  to  come  to  see  her  again  the  same  day, 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

He  returned  punctually  at  that  hour,  and  was  at  once  re 
ceived  by  her  Majesty.  She  was  in  a  very  bad  humour,  and 
told  him  that  she  had  broached  the  matter  in  question  to  her 
husband,  and  had  got  a  scolding  for  her  pains.  D'Estrades 
"  had  been  the  occasion  of  her  suffering  a  severe  reprimand 
for  having  proposed  to  the  King^to  remain  neuter  while  the 


326  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud. 

sea-ports  of  Flanders  were  to  be  attacked."  He  would  be 
able,  however,  to  judge  of  the  king's  disposition  in  the  matter 
for  himself,  as  his  Majesty  wished  to  see  him  at  six  o'clock. 

The  prospect  of  this  audience  was  not  very  agreeable  ;  but, 
to  the  surprise  of  D'Estrades,  King  Charles  received  him 
graciously  enough. 

The  ambassador  plunged  into  his  business  forthwith,  assur 
ing  Charles  that  if  he  would  guarantee  his  neutrality,  the 
cardinal  would  not  only  take  care  to  further  his  interests  at 
the  Court  of  France,  but  endeavour  to  induce  Louis  XIII.  to 
help  him  in  suppressing  his  own  rebellious  subjects. 

Charles  replied  that  he  wished  always  to  remain  a  friend 
to  his  brother-in-law,  the  King  of  France  ;  but  that  there  could 
be  no  friendship  between  them  if  he  would  be  expected  to  do 
anything  dishonourable,  or  injurious  to  the  interests  of  his 
people.  If  the  ports  of  Flanders  were  to  be  attacked  by 
France,  the  English  fleet  would  be  in  the  Downs  ready  for 
action,  and  on  board  it  would  be  an  army  of  15,000  men. 
He  was  much  obliged  to  the  cardinal  for  his  offer  to  keep  his 
own  subjects  in  order  for  him,  but  that  he  would  prefer  to  do 
for  himself. 

Richelieu  had  been  fully  prepared  for  the  possible  con 
tingency  of  such  an  answer  from  Charles  to  his  overtures,  and 
he  had  instructed  D'Estrades  as  to  what  he  should  do  in  that 
event.  If  Charles  should  guarantee  a  strict  neutrality,  he  was 
to  be  rewarded  by  help  in  some  form  against  the  Scotch 
Covenanters ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  he  should  refuse  to  be 
neutral,  his  neutrality  was  to  be  practically  assured,  by  assist 
ing  the  Scotch  Covenanters  to  attack  him,  and  thus  divert 
his  army  from  the  south  to  the  north.  Therefore,  D'Estrades 
at  once  put  himself  into  communication  with  two  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  Scotch  Covenanting  party,  then  in  London, 
and  communicated  with  Richelieu,  who  sent  to  Edinburgh  his 
chamberlain,  the  Abbe  Chambres,  or  Chambers,  as  he  called 
himself  when  he  reached  Scotland,  accompanied  by  a  confi 
dential  page  of  his  own,  who  happened  to  be  a  Scotchman. 
Richelieu  gave  the  Covenanters  material  help,  by  procuring 
the  release  of  six  thousand  stand  of  arms,  which  had  been 


Laud.  327 

purchased  by  them  and  seized  by  the  States  of  Holland,  and 
by  presenting  their  commander-in-chief,  General  Leslie,  with 
a  hundred  thousand  crowns. 

Matters  were  now,  therefore,  reduced  to  this  absurd  posi 
tion,  that  a  Catholic  bishop  and  cardinal  was  assisting  a 
puritanical  army,  whose  chief  cry  was  "  No-Popery,"  while 
the  army  which  it  was  attacking,  on  the  ground  of  its 
encouragement  of  Popery,  was  under  the  patronage  of  a 
Protestant  archbishop  ;  nor  is  it  altogether  unlikely  that  the 
absurdity  of  the  situation  may  have  amused  Richelieu  him 
self,  who  would  consider  one  party  quite  as  Protestant  as 
the  other. 

In  his  attempts  to  influence  King  Charles,  Richelieu  failed  ; 
but  he  was  successful  in  considerably  hampering  him,  for  the 
sake  of  the  interests  of  France,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that,  in 
view  of  the  same  interests,  he  helped  to  foster  complications 
in  England,1  as  well  as  Scotland,  so  that  the  great  French 
ecclesiastic  intentionally,  and  the  great  English  ecclesiastic 
unintentionally,  both  helped  to  bring  about  the  overthrow 
of  that  unfortunate  monarch,  Charles  I. 

Wentworth  did  not  take  the  movements  of  Richelieu  into 
calculation,  when  he  wrote  -  to  the  Lord  High  Admiral,  of 
the  threatened  war  with  Scotland,  that  it  happened,  "  in  some 
Rispects,  in  a  very  ill  Conjuncture  of  Time  and  affairs": — 
"  And  yet  there  is  some  Good  in  this  Evil,  in  regard  all  our 
Neighbours  are  so  soundly  together  by  the  Ears  one  with 
another,  as  admits  them  no  Leisure  to  look  so  far  North 
ward,  or  Boldness  to  move  his  Majesty  to  declare  himself  a 
Party  on  either  Side,  where  now  he  is  upon  a  Neutrality." 
"  And  on  the  other  Side,  without  Assistance  from  abroad,  the 
gallant  Gospellers  shall  not  by  God's  Blessing  be  able  to  bear 
up  their  rebellious  Humours  against  their  King  or  bring 
other  than  their  own  Ruin  upon  themselves."  He  thought 
himself  very  clever  and  a  great  diplomatist ;  yet  at  least  one 
of  his  neighbours  was  not  so  soundly  "  by  the  Ears  "  with  the 
others,  but  that  he  had  leisure  to  plot  against  his  Majesty  of 
England  and  to  laugh  at  Wentworth  and  Laud. 

1  Lingard,  vol.  viii.  chap.  i.  2  "  Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  ii.  p.  190. 


328  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  [iS5l638' 

Macaulay1  says: — "  Charles  and  Laud  determined  to  force 
on  the  Scots  the  English  liturgy,  or  rather  a  liturgy  which, 
wherever  it  differed  from  that  of  England,  differed,  in  the 
judgment  of  all  rigid  Protestants,  for  the  worse";  and  he 
calls  it  "  a  step,  taken  in  the  mere  wantonness  of  tyranny, 
and  in  criminal  ignorance  of  public  feeling."  In  the  next 
paragraph  he  says : — "  For  the  senseless  freak  which  had 
produced  these  effects  Wentworth  is  not  responsible,"  and  a 
footnote  directs  the  reader  to  "  see  his  letter  to  the  Earl  of 
Northumberland,  dated  July  30,  1638,"  the  very  letter  of 
Wentworth's  from  which  I  have  just  been  quoting. 

Lord  Macaulay  is  quite  right,  strictly  speaking  ;  for  Went 
worth  expressly  says  : — "  Indeed  in  this  matter  of  Scotland,  I 
was  utterly  resolved  to  decline  meddling  or  giving  any  counsel 
at  all  further  than  I  should  be  commanded  and  required  there 
unto  by  his  Majesty  ;  and  hitherto  I  have  kept  myself  intire  on 
that  Foot,  not  a  Syllable  writ  on  that  Subject,  &c.,"  and  he 
mentions  "  that  unhappy  Principle  of  State,  practised  as  well 
by  his  Majesty  as  by  his  blessed  Father,  of  keeping  secret 
and  distinct  all  the  Affairs  and  Constitution  of  that  Crown  " 
(of  Scotland)  "  from  the  Privity  and  Knowledge  of  the  Council 
of  England,  in  so  much  as  no  Man  was  intrusted  or  knew 
any  Thing,  but  those  of  their  own  Nation,  which  was  in  effect 
to  keep  them  two  Kingdoms  still." 

This  proves  Macaulay's  accuracy  ;  at  the  same  time,  I  must 
admit  that,  until  I  had  read  the  whole  letter  for  myself,  I 
inferred  from  his  words  that  he  intended  to  imply  that  the 
letter,  in  some  way,  showed  that  Wentworth  objected  to  the 
"  senseless  freak  "  of  Charles  and  Laud,  in  forcing  a  liturgy  on 
the  Scots ;  and  knowing  Wentworth's  sympathy  with  Laud  in 
ecclesiastical  matters,  I  was  puzzled  ;  this  was  an  error  on  my 
part,  but  one  into  which  others  might  possibly  fall ;  I  hasten, 
therefore,  to  show  that,  although,  as  Macaulay  very  truly  says, 
Wentworth  was  in  no  way  directly  responsible  for  the  en 
forcement  of  the  liturgy,  far  from  objecting  to  it,  he  heartily 
sympathised  with  it. 

I  will  quote  one  or  two  passages  from  this  very  letter  in 

1  "Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i. 


e  Qj:  A  rchbishop  Laud.  329 


proof  of  this.  "  I  have  read  the  late  Proclamation,  penned 
with  all  Moderation,  as  likewise  their  Protestation,  the 
sauciest  and  most  unmannerly  Piece  my  Eyes  ever  went 
over,  which  will  to  Posterity  remain  the  first  Fruits  of  their 
Rebellion,  and  the  Scandal  of  the  reformed  Churches."  "  I 
am  clear  in  Opinion  this  is  such  an  Insolency,  as  is  not  to  be 
borne  by  any  Rule  of  Monarchy,  but  must  be  thoroughly 
corrected,  &c."  After  describing  his  plan  for  the  campaign,  he 
says  :  —  "  I  should  hope  his  Majesty  might  instantly  give  his 
Law  to  Edenborough,  and  not  long  after  to  the  whole  Kingdom  ; 
which  though  it  should  all  succeed,  yet  at  the  Charge  of  that 
Kingdom  would  I  uphold  my  Garrison  at  Leitli,  till  they  had 
received  our  Common  Prayer  Book,  used  in  our  Churches  of 
England  without  any  Alteration."  He  implies  here  a  wish  for 
the  use  of  the  English  rather  than  the  Scottish  liturgy,  but  in 
this  he  only  shows  himself  at  one  mind  with  Laud.  "  The  best 
Part  of  the  Irish  Army  might  be  drawn  down  into  Ulster, 
close  upon  Scotland,  as  well  to  amuse  those  upon  that  Side  as 
to  contain  their  Countrymen  amongst  us  in  due  Obedience." 
The  Clergy  of  England  and  Ireland  would  be  instructed  to 
preach  to  the  People  against  their  Disorders  and  Rebellions, 
as  they  do  most  impudently  against  the  Common  Prayer 
Book,  and  Ceremonies  of  our  Church." 

I  have  entered  into  this  matter  at  some  length,  lest  any 
other  reader  should  fall  into  my  own  mistake,  of  inferring 
from  Macaulay's  words  that  Wentworth  was  out  of  sympathy 
with  Laud  in  his  endeavours  to  introduce  a  liturgy  into 
Scotland.  I  may  add  that  Mr  Gladstone  writes  :  *  —  "  There 
seems  to  have  been  established  a  thorough  community  of 
soul  between  them  ;  and  it  might  be  hard  to  show  any  single 
point  of  action  or  opinion  on  which  they  differed." 

At  his  own  trial  for  high  treason,  Laud  said  in  his  de 
fence  2  :  —  "  I  ever  advised  the  "  (Scotch)  "  Bishops,  both  in 
his  Majesty's  Presence,  and  at  other  times,  both  by  Word 
and  by  Writing,  that  they  would  look  carefully  to  it,  and  be 
sure  to  do  nothing  about  it  but  what  should  be  agreeable  to 
the  Laws  of  tJiat  Kingdom.  And  that  they  should  at  all 

1  Romanes'  Lecture.          -  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.,  &c.,  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  169. 


330  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [SSJ638' 

times  be  sure  to  take  the  Advice  of  the  Lords  of  his  Majesty  s 
Council  in  that  Kingdom,  &c."  "Which  Course  if  they  have 
not  followed,  that  can  no  way  reflect  upon  me."  Again  he 
says  : — "  In  a  Letter  of  mine  after  my  last  coming  out  of 
Scotland,  thus  I  wrote  to  the  late  Reverend  Arch-Bishop  of 
^.  Andrews,  Septemb.  30,  1633,  concerning  the  Liturgy: 
That  whether  that  of  England,  or  another  were  resolved  on, 
yet  they  should  proceed  Circumspectly ;  Because  his  Majesty 
had  no  intcndment  to  do  any  tiling,  but  that  which  was 
according  to  Honour  and  Justice,  and  the  Laws  of  that 
Kingdom,  6°£." 

It  may  be  replied  that  this  defence,  made  by  Laud  when 
he  was  being  tried  for  his  life,  was  probably  exaggerated,  if 
not  untrue.  To  prove  the  contrary,  I  will  quote  from  his 
correspondence  with  Wentworth  some  years  before  the  very 
idea  of  his  impeachment  had  been  mooted. 

I  must  apologise  for  my  length  on  this  point ;  but  it 
seems  my  duty,  in  writing  a  life  of  Laud,  to  give  evidence 
for  my  belief  that  the  strong  things  which  have  been  said 
about  his  share  in  enforcing  a  liturgy,  nolens,  volens,  upon  the 
Scotch,  are  subject  to  very  considerable  modifications. 

In  November  1638,  Wentworth  wrote  to  Laud  *  : — "  It 
was  ever  clear  in  my  Judgment,  that  the  Business  of  Scot 
land  so  well  laid,  so  pleasing  to  God  and  Man  " — this  shows 
that  he  approved  of  the  introduction  of  a  liturgy  into  that 
country — "  had  it  been  effected,  was  miserably  lost  in  the 
Execution,  yet  could  never  have  so  fatally  miscarried,  if 
there  had  not  been  Failure  likewise  in  the  Direction,  oc 
casioned  either  by  over-great  desires  to  do  all  quietly  with 
out  Noise," — possibly  he  meant  by  this  the  king's  reservation 
on  the  subject  to  his  English  advisers,  himself  and  Laud 
included, — "  by  the  State  of  Business  misrepresented,  by 
Opportunities  and  Seasons  slipped," — it  was  then  four  years 
since  the  king's  visit  to  Scotland, — "  or  by  some  such  like. 
Besides,  it  sometimes  falls  forth,  that  out  of  an  Easiness  and 
Sweetness  of  Nature  some  Men  insensibly  suffer  Opposi 
tions."  By  this  "  sweetness  of  nature "  he  doubtless  meant 

L  "  Strafford  Papers,"  vol.  ii.  p.  250. 


38']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud  331 

the  king's,  and  he  goes  on  to  explain  that  those  who  give 
way  to  such  a  disposition,  often  "difficult  their  own  Affairs 
and  discourage  their  own  Party  most  extremely,  &c."  In 
the  next  paragraph,  he  presently  says: — "Therefore  God 
Almighty  guide  his  Majesty's  Counsels,  and  strengthen  his 
Courage.  For  if  he  master  not  them,"  there  will  be  danger 
that  "this  Affair"  (the  affair  of  the  use  of  the  Anglican 
liturgy,  be  it  observed)  "  tending  so  much  and  visibly  to  the 
Tranquility  and  Peace  of  his  Kingdom,"  and  "  to  the  Honour 
of  Almighty  God,"  may  lead  to  serious  trouble. 

To  this  Laud  replied,1  that  the  errors  were  "  all  Errors 
about  the  Execution  not  the  Direction."  One  of  them,  he 
said,  was  "  a  great  one  ;  but  I  could  not  help  it.  For  such 
of  the  Bishops  of  Scotland  as  were  trusted  with  it  were  all  for 
the  quiet  Way,  and  that  fitting  his  Majesty's  Disposition,  I 
was  not  able  to  withstand  it,  and  indeed  must  have  been 
thought  very  bold,  had  I  taken  upon  me  to  understand  the 
Course  of  that  Church  and  Kingdom  better  than  they." 

By  "  the  quiet  Way  "  Laud  probably  meant  the  introduc 
tion  of  the  new  liturgy,  without  allowing  the  country  and  the 
Council  to  know  much  about  it  until  it  was  actually  sprung 
upon  them.  One  cannot  conceive  that  he  meant  the  opposite 
of  introducing  it  under  armed  force  ;  for,  in  that  case,  a  body 
of  soldiers  would  have  been  required  both  within  and  with 
out  every  kirk  in  Scotland.  He  goes  on  to  say  : — "  But  the 
main  Failure  in  the  Direction,  if  I  mistake  not,  was,  that  all 
the  Lords  of  that  Council  were  not  more  thoroughly  dealt 
with  by  the  King,  and  their  Judgments  more  thoroughly 
sifted  before  any  thing  had  been  put  to  Execution." 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  majority  of  "  the  Lords  of 
that  Council  "  would  not  have  recommended  the  forcing  of 
a  liturgy  upon  their  fellow-countrymen. 

Wentworth  took  a  very  grave  view  of  the  situation.  In 
his  reply  to  Laud,-  he  wrote  about  the  "  insolent  and  peevish 
Covenanters,"  and  asserted  that  it  behoved  "  his  Majesty 
to  buckle  himself  roundly  and  severely  to  the  Discipline  of 
these  rebellious  Assumptions  and  Attempts,  which  otherwise 

1  "Stratford  Papers, ".vol.  ii.,  p.  264.  2  Ib.,  p.  271. 


332  Life  of  Archbishop  Land. 


rCirca  1638. 

iMt.  65. 


certainly  will  never  rest,  till  they  lay  on  their  rough  Hands 
and  even  captivate  Sovereignty  itself." 

This  proved  to  be  but  too  accurate  a  prophecy  !  It  will 
be  observed  that  both  Wentworth  and  Laud  had  now 
begun  to  find  serious  fault  with  the  policy  and  behaviour  of 
their  pet  king,  and  to  admit  that  he  did  not  always  act  upon 
the  advice  of  either.  What  is  even  more  remarkable  is  that 
two  men,  who  depended  so  much  upon  the  royal  favour, 
should  run  the  risk  of  sending  letters  to  each  other  from 
England  to  Ireland,  and  vice  versa,  in  which  such  opinions 
were  freely  expressed,  not  in  cypher,  but  in  ordinary 
characters.  The  discovery  of  one  of  the  letters,  which  I 
have  lately  quoted,  if  it  had  got  into  the  king's  hands, 
would  probably  have  led  to  the  disgrace  and  fall  of  one, 
if  not  both,  of  these  royal  favourites. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

LAUD'S  own  account,  in  his  Diary,  of  the  troubles  in  Scotland, 
in  1638  and  1639,  are  so  short,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
descriptive,  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  quote  freely  from  them. 

In  1638,  he  writes1  on  "April  29.  The  Tumults  in  Scot 
land,  about  the  Service-Book  offered  to  be  brought  in,  began 
July  23,  1637,  and  continued  increasing  by  fits,  and  hath  now 
brought  that  Kingdom  in  danger." 

"  Maij  26.  Saturday,  James  Lord  Marquess  Hamilton  set 
forth,  as  the  King's  Commissioner,  to  appease  the  Tumults 
in  Scotland.  God  prosper  him,  for  God  and  the  King." 

"  Novemb.  21.  Wednesday,  The  General  Assembly  in  Scotland 
began  to  sit." 

Now  observe  the  length  of  its  session.  "Novemb.  29. 
Thursday,  The  Proclamation  issued  out,  for  dissolving  the 
General  Assembly  in  Scotland,  under  pain  of  Treason. 
Decemb.  20.  They  sate  notwithstanding,  and  made  many 
strange  Acts,  till  Decemb.  20,  which  was  Thursday,  and  then 
rose.  But  have  indicted  another  Assembly  against  July 
next."  With  these  events  we  have  already  dealt. 

In  1639,  he  writes  2  on  "March  27.  Wednesday,  Coronation- 
day,  King  Charles  took  his  Journey  Northward,  against  the 
Scottish  Covenanting  Rebels.  God  of  his  infinite  Mercy 
bless  him  with  Health  and  Success." 

He  is  silent  as  to  his  own  efforts  in  assisting  the  king's 
army ;  but  there  is  evidence  of  them  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  his  suffragan  bishops,  in  which  he  says3: — "  In  this 
Case  of  so  great  danger  both  to  State  and  Church  of  England, 
your  Lordships,  I  doubt  not,  and  your  Clergie  under  you, 
will  not  only  be  vigilant  against  the  close  Workings  of  any 
Pretenders  in  that  kind  :  but  very  free  also  to  your  Power 

1  Diary,  p.  55.  2  P.  56.  3  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  357. 

333 


334  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [ 

and  Proportion  of  means  left  to  the  Church,  to  contribute 
towards  the  raising  of  such  an  Army,  as,  by  God's  Blessing 
and  his  Majestie's  Care,  may  secure  this  Church  and  King 
dom  from  all  intended  violence."  "  These  are  to  pray  your 
Lordship  to  give  a  good  Example  in  your  own  Person,  &c." 
''  And  I  hope  also  your  Lordship  will  so  order  it,  as  that 
every  man  will  at  the  least  give  after  the  Proportion  of 
35.  lod.  in  the  Pound,  of  the  valuation  of  his  Living,  or  other 
Preferment,  in  the  Kinge's  Books."  "Your  Lordship  must 
further  be  pleased  to  send  a  List  of  the  Names  of  such  as 
refuse  this  service." 

While  Laud  was  urging  his  bishops  and  clergy  to  con 
tribute  towards  the  army  for  the  North,  his  old  friend,  Sir 
Kenelm  Digby,  with  Walter  Montague,  against  whose 
"  carriage,"  since  he  had  become  a  Catholic,  Laud  had  lately 
declaimed  at  the  Council,1  "  likewise  dispers'd  the  Letters 
among  the  Roman  Catholics  to  this  effect :  That  the  happy 
Moderation  they  live  under,  being  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
Queen's  Protection  and  Intercession,  they  doubt  not  but  the 
occasion  of  expressing  their  Gratitude  will  be  joyfully  em 
braced  by  every  one  ;  that  they  have  already  by  their  former 
Letters  endeavour'd  to  prepare  them  to  a  cheerful  Assistance 
of  his  Majesty  in  his  Journey  to  the  Northern  Parts.  They 
recommend  to  them  the  Nomination  of  some  of  the  ablest 
and  best  dispos'd  in  every  County,  both  to  solicit  and  collect 
such  voluntary  Contributions." 

If  plenty  of  money  was  subscribed,  ill  use  was  made  of  it. 
Looking  through  the  accounts  of  letters  written  from  men 
with  the  army,  in  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers?  we  find  a 
state  of  things  which  puts  into  the  shade  the  modern  blunder- 
ings  for  which  we  always  blame  our  own  authorities  whenever 
we  go  to  war. 

There  are  some  who  "  think  all  this  business  too  long,  too 
costly,  and  too  troublesome."  A  letter-writer  tells  his  cor 
respondent  that  "our  soldiers"  "  lay  last  night  and  were  fed 
yesterday  worse  perhaps  than  your  dogs."  ."  Never  till  now 
was  an  army  heard  of  without  sutler  or  victualler  till  this  ;  it 

1  Rushworth,  vol.  iii.  pp.  20  and  foil.  2  1639,  pp.  270-283. 


39']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  335 

is  true  they  are  paid,  but  they  cannot  eat  money."  "  Well, 
God  amend  it  all !  but  it  is  very  scurvy,  and  we  begin  to  have 
our  factions  and  our  fooleries  already."  There  was  treachery, 
too,  in  the  camp.  "A  sycophantical  rascal"  in  the  king's 
army,  "stole  six  great  horses,  is  gone  into  Scotland  and 
turned  Covenanter."  "  Here  is  another  fellow,  one  Sir  [John] 
Hay,  the  Clerk  Registrar,  who  has  frequent  access  to  the 
King.  This  trout,  for  all  his  hypocritical  and  asinine  aspect, 
is  thought  no  honester  than  he  should  be,  and  to  wish  well  to 
the  holy  cause  as  the  most  puritanical  varlet  in  the  company." 

"Our  men  grow  sick  with  lodging  sub  dio ;  above  100 
are  sick  of  the  small-pox  in  Sir  Thomas  Morton's  regiment." 
"  Last  night  we  were  here  in  great  affliction  for  fear  of  the 
miscarriage  of  our  troops."  "  Here  is  great  complaint  made 
in  town  of  somebody's  indiscretion." 

Perhaps  the  most  extraordinary  ill-management  and  want 
of  discipline  in  Charles'  army  was  when  his  soldiers,  whom  he 
was  taking  to  Scotland  to  enforce  High-Church  doctrines  and 
ceremonies,  were  l  "  so  ill  principled,  or  so  ill  perswaded,  that 
in  their  marchings  through  the  Country  they  brake  into  the 
Churches,  pulled  up  the  Railes,  threw  down  the  Communion 
Tables,  defac'd  the  Common  Prayer  Books,  tore  the  Surplices, 
and  committed  many  other  Acts  of  outragious  insolence." 

Letters  of  this  period  mention  the  virulence  of  some  of  the 
Scotch  ladies  against  those  of  their  own  kith  and  kin  who 
take  the  side  of  the  king  against  the  Covenanters.  Hamil 
ton's  own  mother  is  waiting  her  opportunity  to  shoot  him, 
and  has  had  some  silver  bullets  cast  for  the  purpose. 

"  Here  -  is  great  talk  of  my  old  lady,  Marchioness  of 
Hamilton  ;  of  her  case  of  pistols  at  her  saddle,  for  she  leads 
her  own  troop  of  horse,  and  is  in  the  field,  and  her  case  of 
dags  at  her  girdle.  Her  silver  bullets  are  not  forgotten  for  her 
own  son  and  my  Lord  General,  and  how  the  ladies  and  gentle 
women,  by  her  example,  do  all  practise  their  arms,  in  which 
new  kind  of  housewifery  they  are  very  expert.  Of  the  form 
of  their,  I  mean  the  women's,  imprecation  and  curse,  every 
one  talks,  and  certainly  but  too  true,  wishing  their  husband's 
1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  426.  ~  Ib.t  p.  282. 


336  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [StC66.639' 

and  children's  flesh  to  be  converted  into  that  of  dogs,  and 
their  souls  annihilated,  is  the  word,  or  "  [and  ?]  "  damned  the 
meaning,  if  they  refuse  to  come  into  the  covenant,  or  ever 
consent  to  admit  of  the  bishops." 

Strong  opinions  were  not  wanting  on  the  opposite  side. 
Sir  James  Douglas  wrote  to  Windebank1 : — "  The  Act  of  the 
present  Assembly  abrogating  and  annulling  Episcopacy  as 
unlawful  in  the  Church  of  Scotland  was  sent  up  to  his 
Majesty  four  days  since.  Episcopacy  orthodox  in  England, 
heretical  in  Scotland.  Lord  God  have  mercy  on  my  soul."  If 
Sir  James  had  lived  now,  he  might  have  said  something  partly 
to  the  same  effect.  Strongly  as  Laud  had  urged  the  clergy 
to  contribute  towards  the  expenses  of  the  war  against  the 
Covenanters,  when  Charles  had  condescended  to  ask  the 
advice  of  his  counsellors,  after  Hamilton's  first  return  from 
Scotland,  he  argued  earnestly  in  favour  of  peace  ;  much  to 
the  annoyance  of  the  king,  who  reprimanded  him  for  his 
pusillanimity.  The  majority  of  the  Council  were  more  anxious 
to  keep  in  the  good  graces  of  their  sovereign,  and  confirmed 
him  in  his  resolution. 

It  is  needless  for  me  to  describe  how  this  first  war  between 
King  Charles  and  the  Covenanters  ended  in  a  sort  of  ill-defined 
compromise  and  truce,  without  any  very  serious  fighting. 
Laud,  as  he  admitted  at  his  trial,  maintained  that  the  king 
might  have  obtained  better  terms.  "  There  arose,"  2  he  writes, 
"  a  debate  at  the  "  (Council)  "  Table,  about  these  Affairs,  and 
the  Pacification ;  and  I  said  that  I  did  often  wish  from  my 
Heart  that  His  Majesty  had  kept  the  Army  which  he  had  at 
Barwick  together  but  Eight  or  Ten  Days  longer  :  And  that  I 
did  not  doubt,  but  that  if  he  had  done  so,  he  might  have  had 
more  Honourable  Conditions  of  his  Scottish  Subjects." 

Further  on,  he  says: — "And  for  the  Pacification,  I  shall 
say  thus  much  more :  Though  I  could  with  all  my  Heart 
have  wished  it  more  Honourable  for  the  King,  and  more 
express  and  safe  for  my  Brethren  of  the  Clergy ;  yet  all 
things  Considered,  which  were  put  unto  me,  I  did  approve  it. 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"p.  454. 

2  "  Hist,  of  the  Troub.,  &c.,  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  170. 


SC66639>]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  337 

For  before  the  Pacification  was  fully  agreed  upon,  His  Majesty 
did  me  the  Honour  to  write  unto  me  with  his  own  Hand  :  In 
this  Letter  he  Commanded  me,  all  delay  set  apart,  to  send 
him  my  Judgment  plainly  and  freely  what  I  thought  of  the 
Pacification  ;  which  was  then  almost  ready  for  conclusion.  I 
in  all  Humility  approved  of  the  Pacification,  as  it  was  then 
put  to  me  ;  and  sent  my  Answer  presently  back,  and  my 
Reasons  why  I  approved  it." 

Clarendon  more  than  agrees  with  Laud  in  thinking  that 
Charles  ought  to  have  made  better  terms  with  the  Scots,  and 
instead  of  approving  the  "  Pacification,"  as  the  best  course 
under  the  difficult  circumstances,  he  condemns  it  roundly.1 
"  The  Mischief  that  befel  the  King  from  this  wonderful 
Attonement  cannot  be  express'd,  nor  was  it  ever  discover'd 
what  prevail'd  over  his  Majesty  to  bring  it  so  wofully  to 
pass :  all  Men  were  asham'd  who  had  contributed  to  it." 
"  The  Factions  and  Animosities  at  Court  were  either  greater, 
or  more  visible,  than  they  had  been  before."  "  The  King 
himself  was  very  Melancholick,  and  quickly  discern'd  that  he 
had  lost  Reputation  at  home  and  abroad."  As  to  his  coun 
sellors,  every  man  was  "shifting  the  blame  from  himself,  and 
finding  some  Friend  to  excuse  him  :  and  it  being  yet  necessary 
that  so  Infamous  a  matter  should  not  be  cover'd  with  ab 
solute  Oblivion,  it  fell  to  Secretary  Coke's  turn  (for  whom 
nobody  cared)  who  was  then  near  fourscore  years  of  age,  to 
be  made  the  Sacrifice."  "  This  unhappy  Pacification  kindled 
many  Fires  of  Contention  in  Court  and  Country,  though  the 
Flame  broke  out  first  in  Scotland.  On  the  other  side  the 
Scots  got  so  much  Benefit  and  Advantage  by  it,  that  they 
brought  all  their  other  mischievous  Devices  to  pass,  with  ease, 
and  a  prosperous  Gale  in  all  they  went  about." 

It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  Laud  did  not  speak  of  this 
"  Pacification  "  in  stronger  terms  than  the  rest  of  his  party. 

In  another  part  of  his  History,2  Laud  writes  : — "  From  the 
Publishing  of  this  Service-Book,  to  this  Pacification,  I  was 
voyced  by  the  Faction  in  both  Nations,  to  be  an  Incendiary, 
a  Man  that  laboured  to  set  the  two  Nations  into  a  bloody 

1  "  Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  pp.  124  and  foil.  '  P.  76. 

Y 


338  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  tg^1.639' 

War :  Whereas,  God  knows,  I  laboured  for  Peace  so  long, 
till  I  received  a  great  check  for  my  labour." 

In  October,  the  king  met  with  a  distraction  from  his 
Scottish  affairs.  A  Spanish  fleet  had  been  discovered  in 
the  English  Channel  by  De  Wit,  the  commander  of  the 
Dutch  squadron,  who  gave  chase,  in  which  he  was  joined  by 
Van  Tromp.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Spaniards  could  not  escape, 
when  Charles,  seeing,  as  he  thought,  a  tempting  opportunity 
of  earning  money  wherewith  to  raise  an  army  to  keep  the 
Scots  in  order,  offered  to  take  the  Spanish  fleet  under  his 
protection  and  convey  it  safely  to  the  coast  of  Flanders,  and 
from  thence  to  a  port  in  Spain,  for  a  payment  of  £i$o,ooo.1 
The  terms  were  gladly  accepted ;  but  the  Free  States  were 
too  quick  for  the  negotiators,  and  ordered  De  Wit  and  Van 
Tromp  to  attack  immediately.  Twenty-three  of  the  Spanish 
ships  ran  ashore,  and  twenty  which  put  out  to  sea  were 
either  destroyed  or  captured  by  the  enemy. 

Laud's  account  of  this  misadventure  runs  as  follows 2 : — 
"  Oct.  1 1  and  1 2.  Friday  and  Saturday,  The  Spanish  Navy 
was  set  upon  by  the  Hollanders  in  the  Downs.  The  Fight 
began  to  be  hot,  when  they  were  past  Dover.  They  were  in 
all  nearly  sixty  sail.  The  Spaniards  suffered  much  in  that 
Fight,  not  without  our  dishonour,  that  they  should  dare  to 
begin  the  Fight  there.  But  this  is  one  of  the  effects  of  the 
Scottish  daring." 

It  was  much  more  to  "our  dishonour,"  because  Charles 
had  undertaken  to  protect  the  Spanish  fleet  and  failed  to  do 
so,  although,  according  to  Lingard,  Pennington,  who  was 
in  command  of  the  English  fleet,  with  orders  to  prevent 
hostilities,  lay  within  sight  of  the  battle,  an  idle  spectator. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes,  he  probably  was  one ;  but  Van 
Tromp  wrote  to  the  Comte  de  Charost : — "  As  far  as  we  can 
judge,  the  fire  of  the  English  was  intended  rather  for  a 
feint  than  from  passion  ;  "  so  he  seems  to  have  at  least  opened 
fire.3 

In  this  affair,  the  influence  of  the  great  French  ecclesiastic 
gave  trouble  to  the  master  of  the  English  archbishop,  for 

1  Lingard,  vol.  vii.  chap.  v.  2  Diary,  p.  56.  a  Griffet,  xxi.  233. 


%rtca66l639]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  339 

Cardinal  Richelieu  "  had  desired  the  Prince  of  Orange  '  to 
give  orders  to  his  admirals  to  engage  the  Spanish  Fleet  in 
the  Downs,  notwithstanding  the  protection  which  the  King 
of  England  seemed  inclined  to  give  them.' " l 

Owing  to  Charles's  indecision,  Richelieu  obtained  for 
nothing  from  him  the  neutrality,  in  the  matter  of  the  Spanish 
and  Netherlandish  fleets,  which  he  had  offered  to  purchase  at 
a  great  price,  and  while  the  well-meaning  Laud  was  helping 
to  make  his  master  more  unpopular,  and  gradually  to  bring 
about  his  ruin,  the  wily  French  bishop  was  not  only  manag 
ing  the  domestic  policy  of  his  country  with  admirable  skill, 
but  directing  its  foreign  diplomacy  with  consummate  tact  and 
foresight. 

In  reply  to  Charles's  angry  remonstrance,  the  Dutch  am 
bassador  made  a  reluctant  apology,  pretending  that  the 
Spaniards  had  fired  the  first  shot,  which  he  admitted  might 
possibly  have  been  accidental,  but  was,  in  that  case,  mis 
understood.  King  Charles  accepted  this  lame  apology,  and 
endured  the  disgrace  of  the  event. 

The  ambassador,  to  use  a  modern  diplomatic  phrase,  "  de 
parted  from  accuracy  of  statement,"  for  D'Estrade's  Corre 
spondence  with  Cardinal  Richelieu  shows  that  Van  Tromp  had 
orders  to  attack  the  English  fleet,  as  well  as  the  Spanish,  if 
it  should  attempt  to  defend  the  latter.  Before  this  order  had 
been  given,  or  decided  upon,  some  member  of  the  States- 
General  had  expressed  a  fear  of  anything  which  might  lead 
to  a  rupture  between  Holland  and  England,  when  it  was 
at  once  and  insolently  replied  that  King  Charles  dared  not 
quarrel  with  them. 

Even  D'Israeli  admits  2  that  "  the  state  of  his  affairs  no 
longer  admitted  of  an  expostulation  by  his  own  navy ;  what 
was  just  and  glorious  in  1637  was  no  longer  so  in  1639.  The 
mind  of  Charles  was  now  too  deeply  engaged  in  military  pre 
parations  against  his  own  revolting  subjects,  while  his  Ex 
chequer  was  so  utterly  exhausted  that  it  became  for  him  a 

1  "Life  and  Reign  of  Ch.  I.,"  D'Israeli,  vol.  iii.  p.  427  ;  also  D'Estrade's 
Correspondence  with  Cardinal  Richelieu. 
'-  Vol.  iii.  p.  435. 


340  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [iSle1.639' 

direful  necessity  to  look  to  the  help  of  his  people,  to  gather 
the  reluctant  alms  of  their  loyalty,  or  to  submit  once  more  to 
the  dubious  results  of  that  new  master  of  Sovereignty — the 
Parliament." 

The  assistance  given  by  Cardinal  Richelieu  to  the  "  revolt 
ing  subjects  "  had  obviously  effected  the  object  he  had  aimed 
at — the  neutrality  of  Charles  in  naval  battles  between  the 
Dutch  and  the  Spanish. 

The  alternative  of  a  Parliament  was  gradually  becoming 
more  and  more  necessary,  and  on  "  Decemb.  5.  Thursday,"  in 
1639,  we  find  Laud  writing1: — "The  King  declared  his  Re 
solution  for  a  Parliament,  in  case  of  the  Scottish  Rebellion. 
The  first  Movers  to  it  were  my  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland" 
(Wentworth),  "  my  Lord  Marquess  Hamilton,  and  my  self." 

Here  we  have  Laud,  who  hated  parliaments,  advising  the 
king  to  summon  one,  after  an  interval  of  eleven  years,  only, 
no  doubt,  because,  as  Macaulay  says,  "  to  impose  fresh  taxes 
on  England  in  defiance  of  law  would,  at  this  juncture,  have 
been  madness.  No  resource  was  left  but  a  Parliament,  &c." 
Nevertheless,  Laud  adds  to  the  entry  in  his  Diary  above 
recorded  : — "  A  Resolution  Voted  at  the  Board,  to  assist 
the  King  in  extraordinary  ways;  if  the  Parliament  should 
prove  peevish,  and  refuse,  &c." 

From  his  Diary,  his  letters  to  Wentworth,  his  pacific 
counsels  with  regard  to  Scotland  when  the  liturgy  had  been 
rejected,  and  other  symptoms,  Laud  seems,  at  this  time,  to  have 
been  dejected,  out  of  spirits,  and  even  nervous.  Certainly  he 
had  much  to  make  him  all  three,  and  he  may  have  been  the 
more  disposed  to  yield,  both  to  his  own  personal  depres 
sion  and  the  force  of  circumstances,  owing  to  his  ill  health. 
Three  days  before  the  king  decided,  "  in  case  of  the  Scottish 
Rebellion,"  to  call  a  Parliament,  Laud  writes  :  — "  My 
Chyrurgeon  in  trust,  gave  me  great  and  unexpected  ease  in 
my  great  Infirmity.  But  after,  the  weakness  continued." 

We  know  little  as  to  the  "  chyrurgeons  "  and  physicians  who 
attended  Laud.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  Dr 
Harvey,  the  discoverer  of  the  true  theory  of  the  circulation  of 

1  Diary,  p.  57. 


%;ca6;.540-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  341 

the  blood,  ever  attended  him.  As  he  was  physician  extra 
ordinary  to  James  I.,  and  afterwards  court  physician  to 
Charles  I.,  it  is  not  unlikely.  Harvey's  services  to  Charles  I. 
were  of  a  practical  nature  ;  for  he  was  in  personal  attendance 
upon  the  king  at  the  battle  of  Edgehill.1 

In  all  his  political  troubles  Laud  was  not  forgetful  of  his 
beloved  Oxford,  for,  in  the  year  1639,  he  sent  576  manuscripts, 
about  a  hundred  of  which  were  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  Persian, 
to  the  university  library,  having  already  sent  more  than  700 
volumes. 

He  had  contrived  to  get  on  good  terms  again  with  the 
queen,  and  so  far  as  his  favour  at  court  was  concerned,  he 
had  no  cause  for  uneasiness. 

It  was  decided  that,  before  the  English  Parliament  as 
sembled,  Wentworth  should  go  to  Ireland  and  appeal  for 
pecuniary  and  military  assistance  to  the  liberality  of  the 
Parliament  of  that  country.2  Before  he  started,  the  king 
created  him  Earl  of  Strafford  and  made  him  Lord  Lieutenant 
of  Ireland.  The  Irish  Parliament  dared  not  oppose  him,  but 
at  once  voted  large  subsidies,  and,  after  ordering  a  levy  of 
eight  thousand  Irish  soldiers,  he  returned  to  London  to  assist 
at  the  English  Council. 

On  April  13,  1640,  "  The  Parliament  sat  down,  called  about 
the  Rebellion  of  Scotland,"  Laud  tells  3  us.  Again,4  "  At  that 
time  it  sat  down,  and  many  tumultuary  Complaints  were  made 
by  the  Scots  against  the  Bishop  and  Church  Government  in 
England,  and  with  great  vehemency  against  my  self.  All  this 
while  the  King  could  get  no  Money,  to  Aid  him  against  the 
Scottish  Rebellion.  At  last,  after  many  Attempts,  Sir  Henry 
Vane  told  the  King  plainly,  that  it  was  in  vain  to  expect 
longer,  or  to  make  any  other  overture  to  them.  For  no 
Money  wou'd  be  had  against  the  Scots." 

Then  he  says  that  the  king  called  "all  his  Lords  of 
Council"  to  meet  at  6  A.M.  in  the  Council  Chamber.  All  the 
peers,  except  two,  "  concurred  to  the  ending  of  that  Parlia 
ment  "  ;  yet  the  blame  of  it  was  laid  chiefly  upon  Laud,  and 

1  "The  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  Healing  Art,"  Bardoe,  p.  384. 
2  "  Clarendon  Papers,"  ii.  82.         3  Diary,  p.  57.         4  "  History,  &c.,"  p.  78- 


342  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

notices  were  "  set  up  in  divers  parts  of  the  City,  animating 
and  calling  together  Apprentices  and  others,  to  come  and  meet 
in  St  George's  Fields,  for  the  Hunting  of  William  the  Fox" 
or,  as  would  now  be  said,  to  "  draw  Laud,"  for  "  the  Breach," 
i.e.,  the  dissolution,  "of  the  Parliament."  The  archbishop 
fortunately  got  warning  of  the  night  on  which  the  sportsmen 
intended  to  pay  him  a  visit  for  this  purpose,  "  and  by  the 
Advice  of  some  Friends,"  he  "  went  over  the  water,  and  lay  at  " 
"his  Chamber  in  White-Hall  that  Night,  and  some  other 
following." 

In  his  Diary,1  he  says: — " Maij  11.  Munday-night,  At  Mid 
night  my  House  at  \Lain\beth  was  beset  with  500  [of]  these 
Rascal  Routers.  [I]  had  notice,  and  strengthened]  the  House 
as  well  as  I  could  ;  and  God  be  [thanked,  I  had]  no  harm, 
t[hey  continued]  there  full  two  hours :  Since  I  hav[e — for]tified 
my  House  as  well  as  I  can ;  and  hope  all  may  be  safe,  &c." 
"  My  deliverance  was  great ;  God  make  me  thankful  for  it." 

He  was  evidently  terribly  frightened,  as  well  he  might  be ; 
for  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  mob  and  rabble  would  have 
given  him  a  bath  in  the  Thames,  if  they  could  have  caught 
him. 

The  punishment  of  at  least  one  of  the  hunters  of  "  William 
the  Fox  "  was  severe.  Laud  writes  : — "  Maij  21.  Thursday. 
One  of  the  Chief  being  taken,  was  Condemned  at  Southwark, 
and  Hanged  and  Quartered  on  Saturday  Morning  following, 
Maij  23." 

1  P.  58. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

THIS,  perhaps,  may  be  the  most  fitting  place  to  make  a 
break  in  the  continuous  history  of  Laud,  and  interpose  a 
chapter  concerning  certain  persons  with  whom  he  was  con 
nected,  or  whom  he  influenced,  within  the  space  of  a  few 
years  preceding  the  date  of  the  last  chapter. 

Laud  took  a  great  interest  in  an  attempt — the  only 
attempt,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain — to  institute  a  kind  of 
spurious  religious  life  in  the  Anglican  Establishment  during 
the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  St  Benedict  of  the  modern  monasticism  was  one 
Nicolas  Ferrar,  a  man  nineteen  years  younger  than  Laud, 
and  the  son  of  a  highly  respected  London  merchant.  His 
portrait  by  Cornelius  Janssen  shows  us  a  handsome  but  rather 
effeminate  countenance.  Even  as  a  little  child  he  had  been 
of  a  religious  turn  of  mind,  and  the  favourite  books  of  his 
boyhood  are  said  to  have  been  the  Bible  and  Fox's  Book  of 
Martyrs.  He  was  a  clever  lad,  and  distinguished  himself  at 
Cambridge.  When  he  left  it,  he  went  to  Holland  in  the  suite 
of  King  James's  newly-married  daughter,  Elizabeth,  after 
wards  Queen  of  Bohemia.  He  remained  on  the  Continent 
about  five  years,  making  Venice  his  head-quarters  ;  but  he 
travelled  a  good  deal  in  different  countries,  and  wandered 
about  Spain,  chiefly  on  foot.  While  abroad  he  collected 
books,  old  prints  of  biblical  subjects,  and  curiosities.  On  his 
return  to  England,  proposals  were  made  that  he  should  accept 
a  professorship  at  Cambridge ;  but  he  took  up  law  instead, 
and  became  counsel  to  the  Virginia  Company.  In  1624  he 
became  a  Member  of  Parliament ;  but  in  the  same  year  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  give  up  the  world  and  live  a  religious, 
or  semi-religious,  life. 

For  this  purpose,  he  purchased  a  property  in  Huntingdon- 

343 


344  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

shire,  called  Little  Gidding.  There,  a  half-ruined  manor- 
house,  with  a  building  which  had  once  been  a  church,  but  was 
then  a  barn,  stood  in  an  almost  deserted  village.  He  sent 
workmen  to  repair  them  sufficiently  for  use,  though  in  great 
simplicity  ;  and,  for  a  community,  he  enlisted  his  mother,  his 
sister,  Mrs  Collet,  and  her  husband — whether  his  monastery 
contained  nurseries  does  not  appear — his  married  brother  and 
his  son  and  other  relations  to  the  number  of  thirty  or  forty 
in  all. 

Ferrar  himself  was  to  be  a  sort  of  prior  to  the  establish 
ment,  and,  being  a  layman,  he  felt  some  diffidence  at  the 
prospect  of  such  a  situation ;  he  did  not  want  to  be  a 
clergyman  ;  yet  he  thought  his  position  as  a  layman  would 
be  anomalous  ;  and  in  his  perplexity  he  consulted  Laud,  who 
was  at  that  time  Bishop  of  St  David's.  Now,  at  that  par 
ticular  period,  lay  teachers  and  preachers  were  only  too 
common,  and  they  went  by  the  name  of  lecturers.  These 
lecturers  were  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  Laud.  The  idea  of  the 
proposed  religious  community,  however,  was  pleasing  to  him, 
and  he  advised  that  the  difficulty  should  be  overcome  'by  his 
ordaining  Nicolas  Ferrar  a  deacon,  and  a  deacon  only. 
His  advice  was  followed.  As  Laud  had  been  Archdeacon  of 
Huntingdon,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  may  have  recom 
mended  Ferrar  to  buy  Little  Gidding,  which  must  have  been 
formerly  under  his  jurisdiction. 

When  it  became  known  that  Ferrar  had  received  ordina 
tion,  his  friends,  who  were  many  and  influential,  offered  him 
preferment ;  but  he  refused  all  such  offers,  stating  that  he  had 
only  received  deacon's  orders  so  as  to  be  legally  qualified  to 
give  spiritual  assistance  to  those  living  in  the  establishment 
which  he  proposed  to  found. 

There  is  evidence  that  Laud  not  only  made  Ferrar  a 
deacon,  but  took  a  keen  interest  in  his  pseudo  monastery. 

A  short  notice  of  this  precursor  of  modern  Anglican 
religious  houses  may  not  be  out  of  place  here,  especially  as 
Laud  ordained  its  founder,  and,  as  I  shall  show  by-and-bye, 
endeavoured  to  advance  his  son  in  learning  and  royal  favour. 
I  take  my  account  of  it  chiefly  from  Professor  Creighton's 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  345 

article  on  Nicholas  Ferrar  in  the  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography,  the  notice  of  Ferrar  in  Chalmer's  General 
Biographical  Dictionary,  Mr  Benson's  ArchbisJiop  Laud, 
Mozley's  Essay  on  Laud,  Nicholas  Ferrar:  His  HouseJwld 
and  Friends,  Edited  by  Rev.  T.  T.  Carter,  and  Rushworth's 
account  of  King  Charles's  visit  to  Little  Gidding. 

Everybody  in  the  establishment  was  supposed  to  be  taught 
a  trade ;  although,  judging  from  the  length  and  frequency  of 
their  devotions,  they  would  seem  to  have  had  little  time  to 
learn  them,  and  still  less  to  practise  them.  Education  was 
one  of  the  leading  works  of  the  community,  and  children 
were  received  free  of  charge.  Visiting  the  sick  and  helping 
the  poor  were  also  among  the  principal  occupations  of  these 
good  people,  and  they  kept  alms-houses  for  widows.  Their 
chief  duty,  however,  was  prayer.  Bishop  Home  wrote  that 
"through  the  whole  four  and  twenty  hours  of  the  day  and 
night,  there  was  no  portion  of  the  time  when  some  of  the 
members  were  not  employed  in  the  performing  that  most 
pleasant  part  of  duty  and  devotion." 

The  whole  establishment  rose  at  four ;  at  five,  there  were 
prayers  in  the  oratory ;  at  six,  "  the  psalms  of  the  hour  "- 
Ferrar's  psalms  for  the  hour ;  he  had  divided  them  after  a 
fashion  of  his  own — with  a  portion  of  the  Gospel  and  a 
hymn  ;  at  least  they  used  to  read  some  Gospel  until  Mr  Ferrar 
had  completed  "  his  Concordance,"  and,  after  that,  this  Con 
cordance  was  substituted  for  the  Gospel.  Judging  from  the 
little  that  I  have  seen  of  it,  it  must  have  been  most  dreary 
reading,  and  it  was  a  curious  book  to  choose  as  part  of  a 
devotional  office.  At  half-past  six,  the  whole  community  set 
off  for  the  church  to  recite  Mattins.  They  marched  in  proces 
sion,  according  to  a  prescribed  order,  two  and  two,  Mr  Ferrar 
bringing  up  the  rear  in  his  surplice.  Caps  and  gowns  were 
worn  by  most  of  the  men,  and  both  males  and  females  wore 
a  uniform.  On  entering  the  church,  every  one  "  made  a  low 
obeisance,"  and  then  went  to  his,  or  her,  allotted  place,  except 
Mr  Ferrar,  in  his  surplice,  who  made  one  genuflection  on 
entering  the  building,  another  when  a  little  way  inside  the 
church,  and  a  third  before  ascending  the  reading-desk.  Hav- 


346  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

ing  finished  Mattins,  the  psalms  of  the  hour  and  a  hymn  were 
said.  Then  followed  breakfast.  At  ten,  the  whole  party  went 
to  church  again  for  the  Litany,  and  at  eleven  they  dined. 
After  dinner  came  reading  from  the  Scriptures  and  Fox's 
Book  of  Martyrs.  I  would  specially  call  the  attention  of 
the  superiors  of  modern  Anglican  sisterhoods,  and  religious 
houses  for  men,  to  their  daily  use  of  that  edifying  Martyr- 
ology.  After  Fox  there  was  recreation  until  one  o'clock, 
from  which  hour  till  three  there  was  "  instruction."  At  four, 
all  went  to  church  again  for  Evensong ;  at  five,  or  some 
times  six,  there  was  supper,  and  from  supper  till  eight  there 
were  "  diversions."  Then  came  prayers,  and,  after  prayers, 
bed — but  not  for  everybody ;  for  there  were  the  Night 
Watches  to  be  kept,  and  doubly  kept  too,  a  certain  number 
of  men  watching  at  one  end  of  the  house,  and  of  women  at 
the  other.  A  watch  lasted  four  hours,  and  during  that  time 
the  watchers,  it  is  said,  repeated  the  whole  book  of  psalms, 
verse  and  verse  about ;  but  possibly  this  may  be  an  exaggera 
tion.  Mr  Ferrar,  who  slept  in  a  frieze  gown  on  bare  boards, 
rose  at  one  o'clock,  to  pray  and  meditate,  and  people  from 
outside  used  to  come  in  to  listen  to  him. 

It  may  surprise  modern  High-Churchmen  to  learn  that  the 
communion  service  was  only  celebrated  once  a  month  in  this 
Anglican  monastery,  when  the  clergyman  from  a  neighbour 
ing  parish  came  over  to  officiate,  and  Mr  Ferrar  acted  as 
deacon. 

Such  a  community  was  certain  to  provoke  unfavourable 
remarks  among  those  without,  and  Ferrar  admitted  that  these 
were  a  constant  mortification  to  him:  "They  were  abused,"  l 
says  Chalmers,  "  by  some  as  Papists,  by  others  as  Puritans," 
and  a  treatise  was  written  upon  The  Arminian  Nunnery.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  obtained  the  episcopal  approval,  not 
only  of  Laud,  but  also  of  his  extreme  opposite,  Williams, 
Bishop  of  Lincoln. 

Many  people  went  to  see  the  place  for  themselves,  among 
others  George  Herbert  and  Crashaw,  the  poet,  who  later  on 
became  a  Catholic,  a  priest,  and  a  canon  of  Loretto  ;  but  the 

1  P.  227. 


xviithcent.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  347 

little  community  was  also  honoured  by  two  visits  from  royalty 
itself.  In  1633,  on  a  royal  progress,  the  king  and  court  went 
out  of  their  way  in  order  to  see  the  Little  Gidding  establish 
ment  ;  an  event  which  must  have  somewhat  interfered  with 
the  recitation  of  u  the  psalms  of  the  hour,"  the  reading  of 
Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,  and  such  like  monastic  avocations. 
Charles  was  much  pleased  with  a  work  which  Ferrar  had 
engaged  a  professional  to  teach  his  community,  called  "  past- 
ing-printing,"  or  the  making  of  "  diatessarons."  This  con 
sisted  in  cutting  out  selected  texts  from  two  printed  copies 
of  the  four  Gospels,  so  as  to  make  a  continuous  narrative, 
and  pasting  them  in  a  book,  with  pictures  to  illustrate  them, 
and  binding  them  in  coloured  velvet,  with  gold  lace.  Charles 
was  delighted  with  the  book,  and  honoured  it  by  scribbling 
notes  on  the  margin,  an  evil  trick  to  which  he  was  much 
addicted.  Before  leaving,  he  desired  Nicholas  Ferrar's  nephew 
and  namesake,  the  son  of  his  brother  John,  a  lad  of  about 
one-and-twenty,  to  come  up  to  London  and  present  himself 
to  Laud. 

The  king's  invitation  was  responded  to  some  time  after 
wards,  and  before  going  to  court,  Nicholas  went  to  Lambeth, 
as  he  had  been  bidden,  to  present  himself  to  the  archbishop. 
On  being  ushered  into  his  presence,  he  knelt  down,  kissed 
his  hand,  and  reverently  asked  his  blessing.  "  My  Lord 
embraced  him  very  lovingly,  took  him  up,  and  after  some 
salutes,  began  to  talk  very  kindly  to  him,  and  promised  to 
take  him  the  next  day  to  the  king  at  Whitehall."  Nicholas 
had  brought  with  him  some  books,  executed  by  the  com 
munity  at  Little  Gidding  in  their  "  pasting-printing "  style, 
as  an  offering  to  his  Majesty,  and  Laud  expressed  himself 
much  pleased  with  them,  promising  to  let  the  king  know 
beforehand  that  he  might  expect  a  present. 

On  the  morrow,  young  Nicholas  met  the  great  archbishop 
at  Whitehall,  and  followed  him  nervously  into  the  presence- 
chamber. 

Charles  was  standing  by  the  fire,  talking  to  some  of  his 
court.  "  What,"  said  he  to  Laud,  "  have  you  brought  with 
you  those  rareties  and  jewels  you  spoke  of?" 


348  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  txvmhcent. 

"Yes,"  replied  the  archbishop,  " here  is  the  young  gentle 
man  and  his  works,"  and,  taking  Nicholas  by  the  hand,  he 
led  him  up  to  the  king. 

A  case,  which  the  lad  had  brought  with  him,  was  then 
opened,  and  eight  richly-bound  volumes  were  taken  out  of 
it.  Charles  was  delighted  and  even  the  courtiers  expressed 
their  admiration.  One  of  the  books  contained  the  Gospel 
in  eight  languages.  Another  was  a  Concordance.  When  the 
king  had  looked  at  it  he  said  to  Laud  : — "  You  have  given 
me  a  right  character  of  the  work,  truly  it  passeth  what  I 
could  have  wished."  And  after  making  a  long,  bombastic 
oration,  he  concluded  by  saying : — "  It  shall,  I  assure  you,  be 
my  companion  in  the  daytime,  and  the  sweetest  perfumed 
bags  that  can  lay  under  my  pillow  at  night."  Then  he  made 
a  very  characteristic  speech  to  Laud  : — "  I  know  that  they  " 
(the  Ferrars)  "  look  for  none,  nor  will  they  receive  any 
reward.  Yet  let  them  know,  as  occasion  shall  be,  I  will  not 
forget  them."  It  is  but  fair  to  add  that  he  promised  to  send 
Nicholas  to  Oxford  at  his  own  expense,  and  he  ordered 
him  to  dine  that  morning  with  the  younger  lords,  in  the 
palace. 

As  soon  as  he  had  left  the  presence-chamber,  the  king, 
himself  a  stutterer,  turned  to  Laud  and  said  that  it  was  a 
great  pity  that  the  boy  stammered.  Laud  respectfully  ven 
tured  to  differ  from  his  Majesty  ;  for  if  the  youth  had  had 
the  free  use  of  his  own  tongue,  the  chances  were  that  he 
would  not  have  acquired  a  familiarity  with  so  many  written 
ones. 

Lord  Holland  recommended  that  he  should  be  made  to 
try  the  effect  of  talking  with  pebbles  in  his  mouth  ;  but 
Charles  said  that  that  was  a  useless  remedy ;  he  had  tried 
it  for  his  own  stammering,  and  had  derived  no  benefit  from 
it  whatever.  In  his  opinion,  singing  was  the  only  thing  that 
could  cure  stammering,  and  young  Ferrar,  he  told  Laud, 
must  be  taught  to  sing. 

Besides  bringing  presents  for  the  king,  Nicholas  had  brought 
a  book  illustrated  with  coloured  pictures  for  Prince  Charles. 
The  boy  was  much  pleased  with  it,  and  so  also  was  the  little 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  349 

Duke  of  York,  who  envied  his  brother  his  brilliantly  coloured 
present.  "  Will  you  not  make  me  such  another  fine  book  ? 
Do  ! "  said  he  to  Nicholas.  "  Most  certainly,  your  Grace," 
was  the  reply.  "  One  shall  be  made  without  fail."  Then 
came  the  childlike  inquiry,  "  But  how  long  will  it  be  before  I 
have  it  ? "  "  Very  soon,"  answered  Nicholas.  "  Yes,  but  how 
long  will  that  be  ?  Tell  the  ladies  at  Gidding  to  be  very 
quick." 

The  next  day  Nicholas  left  London  and  took  leave  of 
Laud  at  Lambeth.  The  archbishop  reminded  him  of  the 
king's  promise  to  pay  for  his  education  at  Oxford,  and  in 
formed  him  that  it  was  his  Majesty's  great  wish  to  have  a 
polyglot  of  the  New  Testament  in  twenty-four  languages. 
He  thought  Nicholas  might  in  time  be  capable  of  such  a 
work  ;  that  he  should  have  a  good  education  given  him  at 
Oxford,  and  every  opportunity  of  learning  more  languages, 
as  well  as  the  help  of  all  the  learned  linguists  whom  the  king 
could  secure.  This  polyglot  Testament  was  to  be  the  labour 
of  his  life. 

The  lad  knelt  down,  took  the  archbishop's  hand,  and  kissed 
it.  This  pleased  Laud,  who  "  took  him  up  in  his  arms  " — he 
must  have  been  very  diminutive,  considering  how  small  Laud 
himself  was — "laid  his  hand  upon  his  cheek,"  blessed  him, 
and  prayed  for  him  that  God  would  "  increase  all  graces 
in  him,  and  fit  him  every  day  more  and  more  for  an  instru 
ment  of  His  glory  here  upon  earth,  and  a  saint  in  heaven." 
As  he  took  his  leave  of  him,  he  said,  "  God  bless  you  !  God 
bless  you  !  I  have  told  your  father  what  is  to  be  done  for 
you  after  the  holidays.  God  will  provide  for  you  better  than 
your  father  can.  God  bless  you  and  help  you  !  " 

King  Charles's  great  polyglot  was  never  to  be  made  ;  for  a 
few  months  after  his  visit  to  London  young  Nicholas  Ferrar 
died.  The  next  time  that  the  king  visited  Little  Gidding 
Laud  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower. 

I  need    not   enumerate  the  writings  of   Nicholas   Ferrar, 

he    founder    of    the    religious    house   at    Little   Gidding ; 

they  were  not  many,  but  I  may  observe  that  he  wrote  one  for 

Archbishop  Laud,  a  Harmony  of  the  Mosaic  Law,  and  that 


350  Life  of  Archbishop  La^ld. 

it  is  at  present  among  the  manuscripts  of  St  John's  College, 
Oxford. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  end  of  the  Little  Gidding  estab 
lishment  for  prayer,  praise,  and  good  works,  was  to  be 
plundered  and  looted  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Parliament. 

But,  before  dismissing  the  matter  of  the  Ferrar  family  and 
their  Anglican  convent,  I  must  say  something  of  one  who 
was  thrown  in  the  way  of  both,  as  well  as  of  Laud.  Indeed, 
like  Nicholas  Ferrar  the  elder,  he  consulted  Laud  at  a  critical 
period  of  his  career,  and  upon  much  the  same  question. 

George  Herbert  was  only  a  year  younger  than  Nicholas 
Ferrar,  and,  like  him  also,  passed  a  brilliant  career  at  Cam 
bridge.  Long  before  he  fell  under  the  influence  of  Laud,  he 
had  attracted  the  notice  of  Laud's  model  bishop,  Lancelot 
Andrewes.  He  was  a  very  finished  classical  scholar,  and  he 
especially  distinguished  himself  by  his  Latin  versification. 
In  1619  he  was  installed  Public  Orator  at  Cambridge,  and  his 
duties  brought  him  into  contact  with  King  James,  his  court, 
and  the  great  Buckingham  himself.  Like  Nethersole,  who 
had  held  the  appointment  before  him,  he  hoped  to  obtain  still 
higher  offices,  and  his  many  opportunities  of  paying  compli 
ments  to  great  and  influential  personages  in  his  orations, 
seemed  to  pave  the  way  to  advancement.  He  was  some 
what  divided,  however,  between  two  opinions,  asking  himself 
whether  he  should  seek  "  the  painted  pleasures  of  a  court  life, 
or  betake  himself  to  a  study  of  divinity." 

While  he  was  yet  in  this  state  of  indecision,  he  received  an 
offer  which  might  well  have  influenced  him ;  not  from  Laud, 
who  eventually  settled  his  mind  as  to  which  course  to  follow, 
but  from  one  of  Laud's  greatest  enemies,  Williams,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln.  It  came  in  the  form  of  a  presentation  to  the  pre 
bend  of  Layton  Ecclesia,  which  was  attached  to  an  estate  at 
Leighton  Bromswold,  Huntingdonshire,  a  place  only  a  couple 
of  miles  from  Little  Gidding,  where  his  Cambridge  acquaint 
ance,  Nicholas  Ferrar,  had  just  set  up  his  ascetic  establish 
ment.  He  at  once  offered  the  prebend  to  Ferrar,  who 
refused  it,  but  advised  Herbert  to  restore  the  ruined  church, 
giving  money  for  the  purpose,  in  addition  to  advice.  Herbert, 


nt.]  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  351 

who  was  far  from  well  off,  collected  more  money  towards  the 
same  object  among  his  friends,  and  the  two  men  became  very 
intimate  over  the  work.  Yet  Herbert  did  not  feel  prepared 
to  undertake  the  duties  of  a  benefice. 

In  addition  to  the  influence  of  Ferrar,  he  fell  also  under  that 
of  the  good-looking  and  religious-minded  Dr  Donne,  who  was, 
like  himself,  a  poet,  and  of  whose  effusions  Chamberlain  wrote 
to  Carleton  *  that  they  contained  "  curious  conceits,  but  much 
piety."  Herbert  and  Donne  wrote  verses  to  each  other,  and 
conversed  about  spiritual  things.  "  Betwixt  this  George 
Herbert  and  Dr  Donne,"  says  Izaak  Walton  in  his  life  of  the 
latter,  "there  was  a  long  and  dear  friendship,  made  up  by 
such  a  sympathy  of  inclinations,  that  they  coveted  and  joyed 
to  be  in  each  other's  company." 

A  threat  of  consumption  induced  him  to  resign  his  post  of 
Orator  to  the  University  of  Cambridge,  and  he  retired  to  the 
house  of  his  brother  for  a  time,  fell  in  love,  and  got  married. 
Soon  afterwards,  in  the  year  1630,  Charles  I.,  at  the  request 
of  Herbert's  cousin,  Lord  Pembroke,  presented  Herbert  to  a 
rectory  in  Wiltshire.  Again  he  hesitated  ;  but  he  went  to 
Wilton  to  thank  his  relative  for  his  kindness.  Just  at  that 
time  the  king  happened  to  be  at  Salisbury,  and  with  the  king 
was  Laud,  who  was  then  Bishop  of  London. 

Lord  Pembroke,  anxious  that  his  cousin  should  not  let  slip 
this  good  opportunity  which  he  had  been  at  such  pains  to 
obtain  for  him,  went  to  Laud,  asked  him  to  use  his  influence 
in  endeavouring  to  induce  George  Herbert  to  take  "  priest's 
order,"  so-called,  and  to  accept  the  living.  Accordingly,  he 
took  Laud  to  Wilton.  There  he  met  George  Herbert,  and 
drew  him  into  conversation  ;  he  led  him  into  the  great  gallery, 
and  paced  up  and  down,  after  his  wont,  as  he  talked  to  him. 

George  Herbert  was  handsome,  if  somewhat  too  aquiline 
in  the  nose,  refined-looking,  graceful  in  figure,  and  charming 
in  manner  ;  yet  he  was  free  from  all  pride,  as  well  as  from  the 
swagger  which  was  only  too  common  among  the  courtiers  of 
the  period,  and  he  was  a  scholar  and  highly  cultivated. 

The  Anglican  clergy  were  not  in  those  days  remarkable 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1623-5,  p.  168. 


352  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

for  either  their  breeding  or  their  refinement,  and  to  lead  into 
their  ranks  a  member  of  one  of  the  best  families  in  England, 
as  distinguished  for  his  acquirements  as  for  his  genealogy, 
and  as  charming  as  he  was  cultured,  seemed  to  be  a  step  that 
might  be  of  untold  importance  to  the  Church  whose  interests 
Laud  had  so  much  at  heart. 

As  the  event  proved,  it  was  of  even  greater  importance 
than  he  imagined.  He  convinced  his  recruit  that  he  had 
a  call  to  the  ministry,  and  that  it  would  be  sinful  to  refuse  to 
obey  it,  and  a  messenger  was  hurried  off  to  Salisbury  to 
summon  a  tailor  to  supply  him,  forthwith,  with  clerical 
garments  ;  for,  although  he  "  had  been  made  Deacon  some 
years  before,"  1  he  seems  to  have  still  worn  the  gay  dress  of 
a  courtier.  In  his  new  "canonical  clothes,"  George  Herbert 
went  to  Dr  Davenant,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  on  April  26th, 
1630,  and  was  by  him,  on  the  same  day,  "inducted  into 
the  good,  and  more  pleasant  than  healthful,  Parsonage  of 
Bemerton;  which  is  a  mile  from  Salisbury." 

Laud  was  thus  the  means  of  enlisting  into  the  ranks  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  one  who  was  to  become 
the  model  of  those  refined  and  cultivated  scions  of  good 
families  that  have  done  so  much  to  grace  the  Anglican 
establishment  for  the  last  two  hundred  and  sixty  years. 
Perhaps  it  would  be  no  great  exaggeration  to  say  that  Laud 
did  few,  if  any,  greater  services  to  the  Church  of  England 
than  that  of  persuading  George  Herbert  to  enter  its 
ministry. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  upon  the  question  of  Her 
bert's  literary  merits,  or  demerits,  to  enumerate  his  works, 
beginning  with  the  little  manuscript  volume  of  verse  which 
he  dedicated  to  his  friend — his  "  most  entire  friend  and 
brother  " — Nicholas  Ferrar,  a  book  of  which  good  old  Izaak 
Walton  tells  us  that  twenty  thousand  copies  had  been  sold 
in  1670,  or  to  give  a  history  of  his  life,  which,  by  the  way, 
lasted  only  three  years  after  his  institution  to  his  rectory ; 
but  I  would  venture  to  point  out  that,  by  his  example,  he 
did  that  for  his  Church  which  Laud  failed  to  do.  May  we 

1  Izaak  Walton's  "  Life  of  George  Herbert,"  Bullen's  ed.  p.  291. 


m.)  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  353 

not  indeed  ask  whether  her  poets  have  not,  as  a  class,  done 
more  for  the  Anglican  Church  than  her  preachers  or  her 
canonists  ?  To  mention  no  others,  who  can  estimate  the 
influence  of  Keble  in  the  nineteenth,  Ken  in  the  eighteenth 
and  seventeenth,  and  George  Herbert  in  the  seventeenth 
centuries,  upon  their  co-religionists. 

I  would  go  further  still,  and  say  in  the  words  of  Cardinal 
Newman  l : — "  It  is  sometimes  asked  whether  poets  are  not 
more  commonly  found  external  to  the  Church  than  among 
her  children ;  and  it  would  not  surprise  us  to  find  the 
question  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Poetry  is  the  refuge 
of  those  who  have  not  the  Catholic  Church  to  flee  to,  and 
repose  upon  ;  for  the  Church  herself  is  the  most  sacred  and 
august  of  poets."  "She  is  the  poet  of  her  children;  full  of 
music  to  soothe  the  sad  and  control  the  wayward — wonder 
ful  in  story  for  the  imagination  of  the  romantic ;  rich  in 
symbol  and  imagery,  so  that  gentle  and  delicate  feelings, 
which  will  not  bear  words,  may  in  silence  intimate  their 
presence  or  commune  with  themselves.  Her  very  being  is 
poetry;  every  psalm,  every  petition,  every  collect,  every 
versicle,  the  cross,  the  mitre,  the  thurible,  is  a  fulfilment  of 
some  dream  of  childhood,  or  aspiration  of  youth.  Such 
poets  as  are  born  under  her  shadow,  she  takes  into  her 
service  ;  she  sets  them  to  write  hymns,  or  to  compose  chants, 
to  embellish  shrines,  or  to  determine  ceremonies,  or  to  mar 
shal  processions  ;  nay,  she  can  even  make  schoolmen  of 
them,  as  she  made  of  St  Thomas,  till  logic  becomes  poetical." 
And  of  what  a  list  of  poets  she  can  boast,  from  Dante 
downwards !  It  would  not  have  surprised  Newman  to  hear 
the  question  he  mentions  answered  by  some  in  the  affirma 
tive,  but  I  think  that  the  true  reply  must  certainly  be  in  the 
negative. 

I  must  now  notice  another  character  with  whom  Laud  was 
brought  into  contact,  namely,  Lucius  Cary,  Viscount  Falk 
land,  whom  Mr  Matthew  Arnold  described  as  a  "  martyr  of 
sweetness  and  light." 2  No  phrase  is  more  identified  with 

1  "Essays,  Crit.  and  Hist.,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  441  and  foil. 

2  "  Mixed  Essays,"  p.  326. 

Z 


354  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

that  writer's  name  than  "  sweetness  and  light  "  ;  yet  it  is  not 
so  original  as  some  may  suppose ;  for  when  he  used  it  in 
Falkland's  case,  he  had  evidently  been  studying  Clarendon, 
who  writes  of  the  same  person  as  one  of  "  inimitable  sweet 
ness  and  delight  in  conversation."  "  Sweetness  and  delight  " 
may  have  suggested  the  modern  rendering  of  "  sweetness 
and  light." 

Falkland  was  a  great  friend  of  Laud's  two  proteges, 
Chillingworth  and  Hales,  who  more  or  less  shared  his  free- 
thinking  views,  and  were  ever  welcome  at  his  manor-house  of 
Great  Tew,  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  from  Oxford.  He 
made  certain  Oxford  men  free  of  his  house  ;  they  came  when 
they  liked,  they  stayed  as  long  as  they  liked,  and  he  only 
knew,  by  meeting  them  at  meals  or  in  his  gardens  or  hall, 
whether  they  were  at  any  particular  time  his  guests.  Nor 
was  he  limited  to  men  of  his  own  theological  opinions  for 
friends ;  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  Ben  Jonson,  Waller,  Selden, 
Hobbes  and  others  swelled  the  list.  I  do  not  claim  that 
Laud  ever  ranked  in  it :  on  the  contrary,  Matthew  Arnold 
says  that  Falkland  "  disliked  Laud."  l  "  He  had  a  natural 
antipathy  to  his  heat,  fussiness,  and  arbitrary  temper."  Per 
haps  Laud  disliked  him  less  than  his  mother  and  brothers, 
who  became  Catholics  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  he  was  more  or 
less  worried,  from  different  theological  directions,  by  the 
whole  family,  which,  between  sweetness  and  light  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Popery  on  the  other,  sorely  tormented  his  soul. 

1  "Mixed  Essays,"  p.  215. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

I  MUST  go  back  a  year  to  describe  how  Laud  had  anxieties 
in  connection  with  ecclesiastical  affairs  abroad,  as  well  as  at 
home,  and  I  will  take,  as  an  example,  the  case  of  a  Mr  John 
son,  one  of  his  clergy,  who  was  acting  as  the  Queen  of 
Bohemia's  chaplain  at  the  Hague.  It  will  serve  also  as  a 
specimen  of  Laud's  correspondence  with  his  clergy.  The 
clergyman  in  question  wrote  to  Laud  l  that  his  "  halcyon 
days  "  of  "  peace  with  all  "  were  "  disturbed  by  those  who 
rejoice  in  all  troubles,"  and  that  he  had  "  tasted  of  the  malice 
of  some  Scottish  spirits,"  who  said  that  he  was  an  Arminian. 
Laud  replied  2  that  he  heard  a  much  worse  accusation  against 
him,  namely  that  he  "  had  commended  the  Socinian  writers 
for  their  rational  and  clear  expression  of  themselves.  And 
though  it  be  one  thing  to  commend  the  style  of  an  author 
and  quite  another  to  commend  the  matter  ;  yet,  in  that  place, 
and  in  these  dangerous  times,  and  where  there  is  justly  con 
ceived  so  much  jealousy  of  the  increase  of  the  Socinian  party, 
being  a  most  desperate  and  dangerous  heresy,"  Johnson  "  did 
extremely  ill  in  any  sort  to  commend  their  writings,  and 
thereby  give  any  probable  occasion  to  strangers  to  think  that 
either "  he  "  or  any  else  in  the  Church  of  England  were 
inclinable  to  that  foul  heresy,  and  the  most  dangerous  that 
ever  spread  itself  since  the  beginnings  of  Christianity."  He 
then  ordered  Johnson  to  "  take  some  discreet  way  to  stop 
this  suspicion  "  ;  for  if  it  were  to  "  once  break  out  into  public, 
the  scandal  "  would  "  be  too  heavy,"  and,  he  adds,  "  I  shall  be 
driven  to  recall  you  thence,  which  being  done  upon  such  an 
occasion  will  utterly  lose  you  in  the  Church,  and  for  my  part 
I  shall  account  myself  very  unhappy  to  have  meddled  with 
you."  "  And  I  hereby  further  require  you,  upon  your 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1639,  p.  35.  *  Il>.,  pp.  41-42. 

355 


356  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [grtC66639' 

canonical  obedience,  to  abstain  from  giving  any  the  like 
offence  hereafter."  He  also  said,  somewhat  sadly :— "  The 
times  are  so  injurious  to  me,  that  every  man's  error  with 
whom  I  have  to  do  is  cast  upon  me." 

Laud  made  inquiries  as  to  the  truth  of  the  reports  of 
Johnson,  from  a  man  at  Amsterdam,  named  John  le  Maire, 
who  wrote  l  in  reply  that  "  Dr  Johnson  utters  himself  'in  his 
discourses,  as  well  at  the  table  as  in  conference  with  men  of 
great  knowledge,  sustaining  boldly  that  the  heresy  of  Faustus 
Socinus  is  '  vera  et  solida  theologia,'  and  that  the  arguments 
of  our  chiefest  divines  '  pro  divinitate  Christi '  are  '  futilia, 
straminea,'  which  abominable  opinion  makes  great  discontent 
and  mourning  among  the  ministers  of  this  country,  &c." 

Then  more  correspondence  took  place  between  Laud  and 
Johnson,  in  which  the  latter  endeavoured  to  explain  that  he 
had  been  entirely  misrepresented.  Laud  replied2: — "You 
must  give  me  leave  to  tell  you  two  things.  First,  that  mis 
taking  or  no  mistaking,  it  is  a  very  ill-favoured  accident, 
both  for  yourself  and  the  Church  of  England,  that  such  a 
rumour  should  be  raised  and  spread.  Secondly,  that  the 
words  which  you  are  said  to  have  spoken,  as  they  are  related 
to  me,  are  very  desperately  foul  in  themselves,  and  cannot  be 
salved  by  any  pretence  of  being  mistaken."  Then  he  admits 
that  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  and  other  great  people  are  "  all 
satisfied  that  the  whole  business  was  a  misunderstanding," 
and  that  he  hopes  he  did  not  speak  the  words  as  they  were 
related  to  him  ;  and  he  says  he  "will  rest  satisfied  for  the 
present  as  they  do,  provided  that  the  business  die  so  and  be 
quieted.  But  if  it  rise  again,  and  make  any  distemper  in 
that  church  at  their  synods  or  otherwise,  you  must  then 
give  me  leave  to  take  more  care  of  the  Church  of  England 
than  of  you.  And  I  heartily  pray  you  to  make  this  a  sad 
warning  to  yourself  for  your  future  conversation." 

Looking  homewards,  again,  we  find  the  vice-chancellor 
writing  to  worry  him,  as  Chancellor  of  Oxford,  about  dis 
putes  between  the  town  authorities  and  the  university.3  "  The 
mayor  pretending  the  statute  of  Edward  I.  for  his  night 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1639,  p.  76.  2  /£.,  p.  223.  3  /£.,  pp.  272-4. 


39']  L ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  357 

watch."  This  civic  night  watch  trenched  upon  the  duties  and 
privileges  of  the  proctors  and  their  bull-dogs.  "  That  statute 
appoints  the  watch  to  stand  at  the  gate,  where  had  they 
kept  themselves  the  proctors  had  not  questioned  them;  but 
when  they  took  the  boldness  to  walk  the  streets,  to  examine 
scholars  of  all  conditions,  to  enter  houses  and  search  what 
company  there,  then  they  thought  it  high  time  to  appear  and 
stand  up  in  defence  of  their  own  authority  and  the  privilege 
of  the  University.  Your  Grace  having  been  proctor  long 
since  cannot  but  know  that  the  night  walk  has  of  old  belonged 
to  the  University,  &c." 

Again,  although  knowing  "  that  upon  his  Majesty's  return  " 
(from  Scotland)  Laud  would  have  his  "  hands  full  of  great 
business,  and  that  time  is  precious  to  "  him,  the  Archbishop 
of  York  writes l  to  enlist  his  assistance  against  "  a  blasphemous 
heretic  "  who,  before  the  High  Commission  itself,  had  "  avowed 
and  maintained  his  damnable  blasphemous  heresies  and 
opinions,"  yet  escaped  without  censure. 

The  Bishop  of  Bristol  also  writes  2  to  Laud  complaining  of 
a  case,  at  the  assizes  at  his  cathedral  town,  in  which  one, 
Davis,  was  found  not  guilty.  The  bishop  had  seen  the 
judge  beforehand  and  expressed  his  desire  "  that  a  matter  of 
this  high  nature  might  not  be  slighted  nor  slubbered  over, 
but  carried  at  least  with  severity,  so  as  metus  ad  omnesT 
Apparently,  "  the  judge  did  his  part  copiously,  gravely,  and 
with  semblance  of  great  severity."  He  asked  the  prisoner 
what  he  thought  of  bishops,  and  Davies  replied  that  they 
were  appointed  by  Christ  for  the  government  of  his  Church  ; 
and  he  knelt  down  and  prayed  for  them.  The  bishop's  "  con 
ceit  upon  the  whole  matter  is  this,  that  the  whole  carriage  of 
the  business  was  a  mere  scene,  wherein  the  judge  acted  his 
part  cunningly,  the  jury  plausibly,  populo  ut  placerent,  and 
the  prisoner  craftily,  that  he  might  no  longer  resemble  Davis, 
qui  perturb  at  omnia" 

The  Bishop  of  Exeter  adds  his  complaints,  in  a  long  letter 
to  Laud,3  against  the  "  heady  and  ignorant  opposers  of  govern 
ment  and  good  order,"  who  should  be  "  chokingly  convinced 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.,"  1639,  p.  455.  -  //>.,  p.  460.  3  Ib.,  pp.  526-7. 


358  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [St^1.640' 

and  seasonably  checked."  He  thinks  it  would  be  "  seasonable, 
safe,  and  happy  to  employ  the  spiritual  sword  against  them." 

Laud  was  to  have  trouble  with  a  bishop  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  1640.  " Maij  29.  Friday,"1  he  writes,  "The  Convoca 
tion  sate  after  the  ending  of  the  Parliament  till  Maij  29,  and 
then  ended  ;  having  made  in  that  time  17  Canons ;  which,  I 
hope,  will  be  useful  to  the  Church."  Among  the  rules  laid 
down  in  these  canons  was  one  that,  four  times  every  year, 
every  clergyman  in  England  should  "  instruct  his  parishioners 
in  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  the  damnable  sin  of  resist 
ance  to  authority." 2  There  were  also  some  very  intolerant 
enactments  against  Socinians,  Separatists,  and  Catholics. 
That  against  the  latter  greatly  annoyed  Dr  Goodman,  Bishop 
of  Gloucester,  the  bishop,  already  mentioned,  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  reading  the  Divine  Office.  This  bishop,  in  a  sermon 
preached  before  the  king,  had  spoken  very  strongly  on  the 
subject  of  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Eucharist,  and  his 
doctrines  thus  expressed  had  caused  considerable  sensation 
and  comment.  The  king  himself  doubted  their  soundness, 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  and  report  upon  the 
matter.3  The  committee  were  inclined  to  treat  it  leniently, 
"  howsoever,"  "  they  thought  it  very  fit  that  Dr  Goodman 
should  be  appointed  to  preach  again  before  His  Majesty,  for 
the  better  explaining  of  his  meaning."  The  affair  was  in  this 
manner  passed  over  without  any  more  serious  consequence 
than  making  Goodman  suspected  of  Popish  inclinations.  But 
when  the  bishops,  sitting  in  Convocation,  in  their  very  first 
canon,  enacted  "Proceedings  against  the  Papists"*'  a  canon 
which  was  so  framed  as  to  be  "  very  express  for  the  use  of  all 
good  and  Christian  means,  to  bring  them  out  of  their  Super 
stitious  Errors,  and  to  settle  them  in  the  Church  of  England" 
"  this  Canon  would  not  down  with  my  Lord  of  Gloucester," 
hiD  nly  member  of  Convocation  who  made  any  objection 
to  it 

Laud  says  that  in  the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  the 

1  Diary,  p.  58.  2  Lingard's  "  Hist.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  v. 

a  See  Hook's  "Lives  of  the  Arch,  of  Cant.,"  vol.  xi.  p.  121. 
4  "  History,  &c.,  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  81. 


S£ca67l64°']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  359 

canon  was  to  be  subscribed,  Goodman  crossed  the  river  to 
Lambeth,  called  on  him,  and  gave  vent  to  "great  expressions 
of  his  dislike  to  this  Canon."  Laud  "gave  him  the  best 
Counsel "  he  "  could,  that  he  would  keep  himself  out  of  that 
scandal,  which  his  refusing  to  Subscribe  would  bring,  both 
upon  his  Person,  his  Calling,  and  the  Church  of  England,  in 
these  broken  times  especially.  But"  Laud  "fell  so  short  of 
prevailing  with  him,"  that  Goodman  told  him  "  plainly,  He 
would  be  torn  with  wild  Horses,  before  he  would  Subscribe  that 
Canon  :  And  so  "  they  "  parted." 

"  The  hour  of  Convocation  drew  on  ;  and  "  the  bishops  "  met 
to  Subscribe  the  Canons.'" 

Now,  according  to  ancient  custom,  Convocation  ought  to 
have  risen  with  the  Parliament ;  but  Charles,  being  anxious 
to  get  a  grant  of  subsidies  from  the  clergy  voted  to  him  by 
the  bishops,  contrived  to  get  some  of  the  judges  to  declare 
that  it  was  quite  legal  for  Convocation  to  continue  to  sit. 
Laud  himself  told  the  king  *  his  fears  that  such  a  course 
"  would  be  excepted  against  in  all  likelyhood  by  divers,  and 
desired  his  Majesty  to  Advise  well  upon  it."  The  king  replied, 
"  that  he  had  spoken  with  the  Lord  Keeper,  the  Lord  Finch" 
—an  "  obsequious  lawyer,"  says  Lingard,  who  had  only  very 
lately  been  made  Lord  Keeper — "  about  it,  and  that  he  assured 
him  it  was  Legal."  This  nettled  Laud,  who  wrote : — "  I  con 
fess,  I  was  a  little  troubled,  both  at  the  difficulties  of  the  Time, 
and  at  the  Answer  it  self ;  that  after  so  many  Years  faithful 
Service,  in  a  business  concerning  the  Church  so  nearly,  his 
Majesty  would  speak  with  the  Lord  Keeper,  both  without  me, 
and  before  he  would  move  it  to  me :  And  somewhat  I  said 
thereupon,  which  pleased  not ;  but  the  Particulars  I  do  not 
well  remember.  Upon  this,  I  was  Commanded  to  sit,  and 
go  on  with  the  Convocation.^  This  is  the  first  occasion  on  which 
we  meet  with  any  mention  of  friction  between  King  Charles 
and  Laud. 

We  will  return  to  the  subscription  of  the  canons,  and  see 
what  use  Goodman  made  of  the  doubtful  legality  of  Convoca 
tion  sitting  when  Parliament  had  risen.  When  it  came  to  his 

1   "  History,  &c.,  of  W.  Laud,"  p.  79. 


360  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

turn,  he  objected  that  Convocation  "had  no  Power  to  make 
Canons  out  of  Parliament  time,  since  the  Statute  H.  8.  It 
was  then  told  his  Lordship,  that "  Convocation,  on  the  present 
occasion,  "  had  the  King's  Power  according  to  that  Statute." 
Laud  adds :  "  This  was  but  a  pretence  to  disgrace  our  Pro 
ceedings,  the  better  to  hide  his  unwillingness  to  subscribe  that 
Canon  against  the  Papists ;  as  appeared  by  that  Speech, 
which  he  had  privately  used  to  me  that  Morning,  and  with 
which  I  publickly  charged  him  upon  this  occasion,  that  he 
spake  the  words  unto  me."  Surely  this  looked  like  a  breach 
of  confidence  on  Laud's  part ! 

Laud  quotes  a  number  of  precedents  of  Synods  and 
Councils  in  the  Catholic  Church,  for  about  a  page,  and  then 
says  that  when  Dr  Goodman  would  neither  affirm  nor  deny 
"  that  Canon  against  the  Papists"  he,  "  with  the  consent  of 
the  Synod  suspended  him.  Divers  of  my  Lords  the  Bishops 
were  very  tender  of  him,  and  the  Scandal  given  by  him. 
And  John  Davenant  then  Lord  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  and 
Joseph  Hall  then  Lord  Bishop  of  Exeter,  desired  leave  of  the 
House  (and  had  it)  to  speak  with  my  Lord  of  Glocester,  to 
see  if  they  could  prevail  with  him.  They  did  prevail ;  and 
he  came  back  and  Subscribed  the  Canons,  in  open  Convoca 
tion.  But  I  told  him  :  Considering  his  Lordship's  Words,  I 
did  not  know  with  what  Mind  he  Subscribed  ;  and  would 
therefore  according  to  my  Duty  acquaint  his  Majesty  with 
all  the  Proceedings,  and  there  leave  it." 

Convocation  being  ended,  Laud  tells  us  that  he  "  did 
acquaint  his  Majesty  with  my  Lord  of  Glocester' s  Carriage." 

"  His  Majesty!'  he  says,  "  having  other  Jealousies  of  this 
Bishop  besides  this,  resolved  to  put  him  to  it.  So  his  Lord 
ship  was  brought  before  the  King,  and  the  Lords  in  Council  ; 
and  restrained  to  his  Lodging,  and  a  Writ  ne  exeat  Regnum 
sent  him." 

Now  mark  especially  what  follows  : — "  But  this  Writ  pro 
ceeded  not  for  any  thing  said  or  done  by  his  Lordship  in  the 
Convocation,  but  upon  other  information  which  his  Majesty 
had  received  from  some  Agents  of  his  beyond  the  Seas." 

The  king  sent  him  to  prison ;  but  he  did  not  stay  there 


Srtca67l6+° ']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  36 1 

long,  for  he  acknowledged  his  fault  before  the  Lords  of  the 
Council,  and  he  seems  1  to  have  taken  "  the  Oath  injoyned  in 
the  sixth  Canon,  for  preserving  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline 
of  the  Church  of  England,  against  all  PopisJi  Doctrines  which 
were  thereunto  repugnant."  Of  this  oath  he  afterwards  re 
pented  ;  for,  as  I  said  in  a  preceding  chapter,  he  died  a 
Catholic.2  "  In  the  time  of  his  last  Sickness,"  says  Heylin, 
"  he  declared  himself  to  be  a  Member  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
and  caused  it  so  to  be  expressed  in  his  last  Will  and  Testa 
ment,  that  the  news  thereof  might  spread  the  further,  and  his 
Apostacy  stand  upon  Record  to  all  future  Ages.  A  Scandal 
so  unseasonably  given,  as  if  the  Devil  himself  had  watched 
an  opportunity  to  despite  this  Church."3  Dean  Hook4 
quotes  the  editor  of  the  Clarendon  State  Papers,  as  remark 
ing5  that  "within  a  year  he  conformed  again  "  ;  but  neither 
the  Panzani  Memoirs  nor  Cyprianus  Anglicanns  make  any 
mention  of  his  relapsing  after  having  been  received  into  the 
Church  ;  and  Heylin  would  pretty  certainly  have  crowed 
loudly  over  such  an  event  had  it  actually  taken  place.  The 
acknowledgment  of  his  having  become  a  Catholic  in  his  will, 
too.  would  almost  certainly  have  been  revoked,  had  he 
returned  to  the  Anglican  Church. 

It  was  the  archbishop's  duty  to  publish  the  seventeen  new 
canons ;  and  when  he  did  so,  in  order  to  propitiate  the 
Puritans  and  the  mob  that  supported  them,  of  whom  he  had 
by  this  time  become  thoroughly  afraid,  he  appended  a  letter, 
signed  by  himself  and  the  Bishop  of  Rochester,  in  their 
characters  of  judges^of  the  High  Commission,  ordering  the 
arrest  and  production  before  that  Court,  not  only  of  all 
priests  and  their  harbourers,  but  also  of  any  person  in  whose 
possession  might  be  found  Catholic  books,  of  everyone  who 
had  been,  or  was  suspected  of  having  been,  present  at  mass, 
of  all  who  had  been  baptized  by  priests,  and  of  every  boy  who 
had  been  at,  or  was  about  to  be  sent  to,  a  Catholic  seminary.0 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  418.  -  "  Memoirs  of  Panzani,"  pp.  248  and  260. 

:}  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  419.  4   "  Lives  of  the  Archbishops,"  vol.  xi.  p.  123. 

5  Vol.  ii.  pp.  17  and  1 8. 

0  Despatch  from  Rosetti  Luglio,   27;   N.   S.    Lingard's   "History,"   vol.    vii. 
chap.  v. 


62  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 


This  order,  on  the  part  of.  Laud,  greatly  alarmed  the  English 
Catholics,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  him  as  a 
somewhat  harmless  and  only  half-hearted  enemy,  and  they 
applied  for  relief  to  the  queen.  Although  she  had  been  on 
excellent  terms  of  late  with  Laud,  she  was  too  wise  to  appeal 
to  him  directly  in  the  matter,  but  took  into  her  confidence 
Windebank,  who  was  probably,  by  this  time,  already  half- 
converted.  They  went  together  to  her  husband,  and  re 
minded  him  respectfully  of  the  assistance  which  he  had  lately 
received  towards  his  army  against  the  Covenanters,  from  his 
Catholic  subjects,  in  the  shape  of  a  free  and  gratuitous  present 
of  £14,000,  and  represented  to  him  that  Laud's  action  might 
well  have  the  result  of  alienating  every  Catholic  Englishman 
from  his  loyalty  to  the  king.  Charles  was  frightened,  and 
sent  for  Laud.  Again  there  was  an  unpleasantness  between 
the  monarch  and  his  archbishop  ;  the  king  reprimanded 
Laud  for  his  officiousness,  and  commanded  him  to  be  very 
careful,  in  such  critical  times,  not  to  offend  any  of  his  subjects, 
whether  Catholic  or  Protestant. 

Considerable  ridicule  was  brought  upon  Laud  in  the  year 
1640  by  a  stringent  oath  which  he  drew  up  and  required  to 
be  taken  by  a  large  number  of  people,  consenting  to  what 
ever  ecclesiastical  measures  might  be  imposed  by  the  "  Arch 
bishops,  Deans,  Archdeacons,  6r."  It  was  spoken  of  as  the 
"  et  cetera  oath,"  and  Mr  Gardiner  says  that  it  "  turned  the 
laugh  against  Laud."1  It  was  generally  looked  upon  as 
being  as  ridiculous  as  it  was  vague  and  dangerous,  and  in 
the  October  of  the  same  year,  by  the  king's  orders,  Laud 
suspended  it. 

Among  the  State  Papers  are  some  notes  for  a  speech 
by  Sir  Thomas  Framston  "  against  Archbishop  Laud 
demonstrating  the  unconstitutional  character  of  the  [et 
cetera]  oath  and  canons  approved  by  the  late  Synod."  2  "  I 
find,"  he  says,  "  by  this  oath  he  doth  advance  himself  in  point 
of  Government  of  the  Church  above  the  King,  and  without 
his  leave  ;  2nd  above  the  Parliament  ;  3rd  above  the  law." 

1  "Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  Article  on  Laud. 
-  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1641-3,  pp.  529-30. 


4°']  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  363 

"  Must  the  King  judge?  No.  Must  the  Parliament  judge  ? 
No.  Must  the  rubric  and  confirmed  Canons  judge  ?  No. 
Then  let  [us]  inquire  who  is  made  judge  by  the  Canons." 
And  he  argues  that  the  et  cetera  oath  was  so  framed  that  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  should  be  the  supreme  judge — "the 
Patriarch  of  England  ;  and  this  he  says,  if  we  well  please,  we 
may  call  him  Metropolitan  or  Patriarch,  in  his  late  book 
[margin,  page  171,  line  28  Relat.  contra  Fisher]." 

The  Scots  were  again  giving  trouble.  In  August  news 
arrived  that  the  Scottish  army  had  crossed  the  English 
border  and,  as  Laud  says,  "  His  Majesty  took  his  Journey 
towards  the  North  in  haste."  On  the  twenty-fourth  of  Sep 
tember,  he  writes : — "  A  great  Council  of  the  Lords  were 
called  by  the  King  to  York,  to  consider  what  way  was  best 
to  be  taken  to  get  out  the  Scots." 

Charles  found  it  absolutely  necessary  to  obtain  assistance 
from  the  nation,  and,  of  the  two  evils,  he  preferred  an 
assembly  of  Lords  to  a  Parliament  with  its  House  of  Com 
mons.  Twelve  of  these  very  Lords,  however,  signed  a 
petition,  representing  the  grievances  under  which  the  nation 
was  suffering,  and  begging  him  to  summon  a  Parliament,  at 
once,  as  the  only  safe  remedy.  Presently,  another,  in  a 
similar  tone,  reached  York,  signed  by  ten  thousand  Londoners, 
and  the  majority  of  the  peers  urged  him  to  consent.  After 
much  hesitation,  the  king  gave  way.  In  the  meantime, 
negotiations  were  opened  by  the  peers  at  York  with  the 
Covenanters,  a  meeting  taking  place  between  the  repre 
sentatives  of  both  at  Ripon. 

Poor  Laud  was  much  deserving  of  pity  in  the  year  1640. 
He  was  thoroughly  frightened,  being,  at  last,  fully  alive  to  the 
danger  threatened  by  the  puritanical  party  ;  he  had  had  at 
least  two  disagreeable  scenes  with  the  king,  who,  till  this 
year,  had  almost  invariably  treated  him  with  respect  and 
affection ;  his  nerves  had  been  quite  unstrung  by  the  attack 
upon  his  palace  at  Lambeth ;  they  had  been  still  further 
shaken  by  a  shower  of  stones  with  which  he,  together  with 
several  other  members  of  the  High  Commission,  had  been 
received,  on  emerging  from  one  of  its  sittings  in  October  ;  and 


364  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [ 


Circa  1640. 
67. 


his  health,  never  very  good,  was  giving  way.  It  was  enough 
to  alarm  him  when,  on  l  "  the  High  Commission  sitting  at  St 
Pauls,  because  of  the  Troubles  of  the  Times,"  very  "  near 
2000  Brownists  made  a  Tumult  at  the  end  of  the  Court,  tore 
down  all  the  Benches  in  the  Consistory ;  and  cryed  out,  they 
would  have  no  Bishop,  no  High  Commission." 

There  were  other  disquieting  symptoms.  He  writes  in  his 
Diary: — "  Sep.  21,  I  received  a  [Letter  from]  John  Rockel  a 
M[an  both  by]  Name  and  Person  [unknown]  to  me.  He 
was  [among  the]  Scots,  as  he  tra[velled  through  the]  Bishop- 
rick  of  [Durham]  he  heard  them  [inveigh  and]  rail  at  me 
[exceedingly,  and  that]  they  hoped  Shortly  [to  see  me,  as  the 
Duke  was]  Slain  by  [one  least]  suspected.  His  Letter  [was 
to]  advise  me  to  look  to  my  self."  I  copy  the  brackets  as 
they  are  placed  in  the  old  edition  of  his  Diary. 

Laud's  terrors  were  fomented  by  his  superstition.  On 
October  27th,  he  writes  in  his  Diary  : — "  I  went  into  my 
upper  study,  to  see  some  Manuscripts,  which  I  was  sending 
to  Oxford.  In  that  Study  hung  my  Picture,  taken  by  the 
Life ; " — Can  this  have  been  his  portrait  by  Vandyke  now  at 
Lambeth  palace? — "and  coming  in,  I  found  it  fallen  down 
upon  the  Face,  and  lying  on  the  Floor,  the  String  being 
broken,  by  which  it  hanged  against  the  Wall.  I  am  almost 
every  day  threatened  with  my  Ruine  in  Parliament.  God 
grant  this  be  no  Omen." 

In  his  History,  also,  he  mentions  the  troubles  of  that  time.2 
The  seventeen  new  canons  "  at  their  first  Publication " 
"  were  generally  approved  in  all  Parts  of  the  Kingdom  ;  and 
I  had  Letters  from  the  remotest  Parts  of  it,  full  of  Approba 
tion  :  Insomuch,  that  not  my  self  only,  but  my  Breth'ren 
which  lived  near  these  Parts,  and  which  were  not  yet  gone 
down,  were  very  much  Joyed  at  it.  But  about  a  Month 
after  their  Printing,  there  began  some  Whisperings,"  and  then 
he  describes  how  ill-feeling  against  the  canons  rapidly  spread, 
"  Till  at  last,  by  the  practise  of  the  Faction,  there  was 
suddenly  a  great  alteration,  and  nothing  so  much  cryed 
down  as  the  Canons.  The  comfort  is,  Christ  himself  had 

1  Diary,  p.  59.  -  P.  8. 


Srtca6;64° ']  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  365 

his  Osanna  turned  into  a  Cruafige  in  far  less  Time.  By  this 
means  the  Malice  of  the  Time  took  another  occasion  to 
whet  it  self  against  me." 

Laud  was  now  on  the  very  eve  of  his  fall,  and  he  seems  to 
have  been  aware  of  it.  Wearied  out,  and  with  ruin  staring 
him  in  the  face,  he  may  well  have  recalled  the  words  of  his 
contemporary,  Bacon  : — "  The  rising  unto  place  is  laborious  ; 
and  by  pains  men  come  to  greater  pains."  "  The  standing 
is  slippery,  and  the  regress  is  either  a  downfall  or  at  least 
an  eclipse." 1  Alas,  it  was  to  be  "  a  downfall "  in  Laud's 
case. 

1  Bacon's  Essay,  "  On  Great  Place." 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

"  IN  November  1640,"  says  Lord  Macaulay,  "met  that  re 
nowned  Parliament  which,  in  spite  of  many  errors  and 
disasters,  is  justly  entitled  to  the  reverence  and  gratitude  of 
all  who,  in  any  part  of  the  world,  enjoy  the  blessings  of 
constitutional  government."  l 

Laud  announces  the  fact  in  periods  less  rounded.  "  Novemb. 
3.  Tuesday,  The  Parliament  began :  the  King  did  not 
ride,  but  went  by  Water  to  Kings  Stairs,  and  through 
Westminster- Hall  to  the  Church,  and  so  to  the  House."  2 

Heylin  says  that  3  "  entring  the  Church  at  the  Little  door 
which  openeth  towards  the  East,  he  was  received  by  the 
Sub-Dean  and  Prebendaries  under  a  Canopy  of  State,  and 
so  conducted  to  the  place  where  he  heard  the  Sermon  ;  the 
performance  of  which  work  was  commended  by  his  Grace  of 
Canterbury  to  the  Bishop  of  Oxon." 

We  have  had  plenty  of  opportunities  of  observing  how  fond 
Laud  was  of  preaching  before  the  king  at  state  functions  of 
this  kind,  and  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  his  having  "  com 
mended  "  the  task  to  a  friend  on  this  occasion  to  the 
condition  of  his  nerves. 

It  is  likely  enough  that  Charles  doubted  whether  he  would 
receive  a  very  loyal  welcome  if  he  rode  in  state  through  the 
streets  to  open  Parliament,  and  feared  to  run  the  risk  of  a 
cold  reception,  which  might  become  a  matter  of  common 
gossip  and  thus  increase  his  unpopularity. 

He  must  have  met  his  Parliament  with  very  serious  mis 
givings,  and  he  made  a  short  but  conciliatory  speech  from  the 
throne.  Nevertheless,  it  by  no  means  pleased  everybody. 
Heylin  tells  us  4  that  "  the  Commons  were  not  more  willing 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  chap  i.  2  Diary,  p.  59. 

3  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  430.  4  Ib.,  p.  430. 

366 


Laiid.  367 

to  hear  that  his  Majesty  was  resolved  to  cast  himself  wholly 
on  their  good  affections,  than  many  zealous  Patriots  seemed 
to  be  troubled  at  it ;  knowing  how  ill  it  sorts  with  Kings  when 
they  have  no  way  to  subsist,  or  carry  on  their  great  Designs, 
but  by  casting  themselves  wholly  on  the  love  of  the  People. 
These  on  the  other  side  were  no  better  pleased  with  hearing 
his  Majesty  call  the  Scots  by  the  name  of  Rebels'"  Indeed, 
on  this  particular  point,  "  the  displeasure  went  so  high,  that 
his  Majesty  finding  into  what  condition  he  had  cast  himself, 
was  fain  to  call  both  Houses  before  him  within  two  days 
after,  there  to  Explain,  or  rather  to  Retract  so  harsh  a  Title, 
calling  them  afterwards  by  the  name  of  his  Subjects  of  Scot 
land,  as  he  used  to  do  ;  which  gave  the  Commons  such  a 
sense  of  their  Power,  and  of  his  Compliance,  that  they  resolved 
to  husband  both  to  their  best  advantage." 

The  day  after  the  assembling  of  the  Parliament,  Convoca 
tion  was  opened  at  St  Paul's.  It  was  saddened  by  the  news 
of  the  death  of  the  Archbishop  of  York,  Dr  Neile.  To  Laud 
himself  the  death  of  this  faithful  friend  must  have  been  a 
great  blow,  and  a  most  disheartening  one  at  such  a  critical 
moment  and  in  his  state  of  extreme  depression.  The  first 
business  of  Convocation,  after  the  hearing  of  the  sermon  in 
the  choir  of  St  Paul's,  was  to  elect  a  prolocutor,  and  then  an 
adjournment  was  made  to  Westminster. 

After  the  usual  formalities — the  protestation  of  the  sub- 
dean  and  prebends,  &c.— and  the  presentation  of  the  prolo 
cutor  in  Henry  Seventh's  chapel,  the  archbishop  "  in  an 
eloquent  but  sad  Oration,  bemoaned  the  infelicities  which  he 
saw  hanging  over  the  Church."  x  Although  no  business  of 
importance  was  transacted  that  day,  a  sign  of  the  times  was 
given,  when  a  clergyman  from  the  diocese  of  Worcester  pro 
posed  a  motion,  "  That  they  should  endeavour  (according  to 
the  Levitical  Laws)  to  cover  the  Pitt  which  they  /tad  opened, 
and  to  prevent  their  Adversaries  intention  by  condemning 
such  offensive  Canons  as  were  made  in  the  last  Convocation."  '• 
Nothing,  however,  came  of  it. 

Other  troubles  began  to  thicken  for  Laud  and  his  friends. 

1  "Gyp.  Ang.,"p.  431.  a  Ib. 


368  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [iJ?e7I.64a 

Wentworth,  now  Earl  of  Strafford,  who  had  been  with  the 
army  in  the  North,  was  well  aware  that,  in  their  Remonstrance, 
the  Scots  had  complained  against  him  for  calling  them  traitors 
and  rebels,  and  for  his  energy  in  endeavouring  to  thwart  them  in 
every  possible  way.  This  knowledge  had  been  confirmed  by  a 
private  warning  that  it  would  be  more  prudent  for  him  either 
to  return  to  Ireland,  where  he  was  popular  with  the  army,  or 
to  go  abroad  until  the  threatened  storm  of  popular  ill-will 
should  have  passed  over,  and  his  friends,  among  whom  may 
have  been  Laud,  judging  from  Heylin's  intimacy  with  their 
advice,  recommended  him  not  to  fear  lest  his  absence,  should 
an  impeachment  take  place,  might  be  regarded  as  an  acknow 
ledgment  of  guilt,  "  where  Partiality  held  the  Scales,  and  Self- 
ends  backt  with  Power,  and  made  blind  with  Prejudice,  were 
like  to  over-ballance  Justice." 

Strafford  was  inclined  to  listen  to  their  advice,  but  the  king 
desired  his  assistance  in  London,  and  assured  him  that  "  not  a 
hair  of  his  head  should  be  touched  by  the  parliament  "  ;  so  he 
braved  his  enemies,  and  came  up  to  the  metropolis  to  take 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Even  as  he  entered  the  House, 
he  was  followed  closely  by  Pym,  who  went  into  the  House  of 
Commons  and  immediately  made  a  speech,  in  which  he  de 
clared  him  to  be  the  "  principal  author  and  promoter  of  all 
those  counsels  which  had  exposed  the  kingdom  to  so  much 
ruin."  It  was  a  remarkable  speech  ;  nor  was  the  speaker  a 
man  devoid  of  talent.  Sprung  from  a  wealthy  Somersetshire 
family,  he  had  been  at  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  and  then 
studied  for  the  law.  He  had  become  a  Member  of  Parlia 
ment  early  in  life,  and  had  soon  proved  himself  to  be  a  bold 
and  able  debater. 

So  great  was  the  influence  of  his  declamation  against 
Strafford  that  the  House  of  Commons  concurred  in  his 
desire  for  the  impeachment,  and  he  went,  accompanied  by 
the  majority  of  the  members  of  that  House,  to  the  Bar  of  the 
House  of  Lords  for  that  purpose.  There  he  was  quite  at 
home,  for  he  had  stood  at  that  Bar  both  to  impeach  Bucking 
ham  and  to  arraign  Mainwaring. 

Strafford  was  in  consultation  with  the  king  when  Pym  and 


Circa6:64o.]  £^  Qf  ArMiskop   Laud.  369 

his  companions  entered  the  House  of  Lords.  On  hearing  of 
what  was  taking  place,  he  hurried  to  the  House,  and  was 
about  to  take  his  usual  seat,  when  there  were  loud  cries  that 
he  must  withdraw.  After  an  interval,  a  messenger  recalled 
him  into  the  House,  where  he  was  informed  that  he  must 
kneel  at  the  Bar,  and  then  the  Lord  Keeper  told  him  that, 
as  he  had  been  impeached  by  the  Commons,  the  House  had 
committed  him  to  the  custody  of  the  Black  Rod  until  he 
should  have  cleared  himself  of  the  imputation  of  guilt. 

It  was  thought  by  some  people  that,  on  this  occasion, 
Stafford  did  not  exhibit  his  usual  nerve  or  decision  of 
character.  In  fact,  when  Pym  had  impeached  him,  he  showed 
no  fight  at  all,  and,  although  no  particular  act  of  treason  had 
thus  far  been  brought  home  to  him,  he  was  forthwith  com 
mitted  to  the  custody  of  the  Black  Rod.  This  took  place  a 
week  after  the  opening  of  Parliament,  and  a  fortnight  later 
he  was  sent  to  the  Tower. 

Laud  writes1: — "It  is  thought  (and  upon  good  Grounds) 
that  the  Earl  of  Strafford  had  got  Knowledge  of  the  Treason 
of  some  Men,  and  that  he  was  preparing  to  accuse  them. 
And  this  Fear  both  hastened  and  heated  the  proceedings 
against  him.  And  upon  Dec.  4,  being  Friday,  his  Majesty, 
at  the  great  Importunity  of  some  Lords  of  his  Council,  gave 
way  that  his  Council  should  be  examined  upon  Oath  in  the 
Earl  of  Strafford 's  Case  ;  and  I  (with  others)  was  examined 
that  very  Day.  There  were  great  Thoughts  of  Heart  upon 
this  Business,  and  somewhat  vapoured  out  at  Men's  Tongues  ; 
but  the  thing  was  done." 

Laud  clearly  disapproved  of  it,  and  considered  the  king 
weak  in  yielding  on  this  point.  In  the  next  paragraph  he 
tells  us  why  he  thought  so  much  eagerness  was  shown  to  ex 
amine  the  Lords  of  the  Council.  It  seems  that,  "  after  the 
breaking  up  of  the  late  Parliament,  Sir  Hen.  Vane,  at  the 
private  Committee  concerning  the  Scotch  Affairs,"  instead  of 
merely  "  setting  down  the  Heads  of  the  Several  Businesses 
then  Treated  of,"  had  "  Writ  down  "  in  full  "  what  every  Man 
•said  at  the  Committee."  Worse  still,  "  by  a  cunning  con- 

1  "History,"  p.  85. 
2  A 


370  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

trivance  between  his  Son  "  and  "  himself,  this  Paper,  or  a 
Copy  of  it  was  delivered  to  some  Members  of  the  House  of 
Commons ;  and  in  all  probability,  was  the  Ground  of  that 
which  was  done  against  the  Lord  Strafford,  my  self,  and 
others,  and  the  Cause,  why  the  King  was  so  hard  pressed  to 
have  the  Lords  and  others  of  his  Council  examined,  was,  that 
so  Sir  Henry  Vane  might  upon  Oath  avow  the  Paper  which 
his  Son  had  seen  and  shewed  ;  and  others  be  brought  to 
witness  as  much  (had  Truth,  and  their  Memories  been  able  to 
say  as  much)  as  his  Paper." 

With  regard  to  the  "  cunning  contrivance "  between  Sir 
Henry  Vane  and  his  son,  both  its  authors  were  brought  to- 
book.  This  they  had  fully  expected,  and  were  equally 
prepared  for.  Clarendon  gives  a  long  and  amusing  de 
scription  of  what  took  place, — the  virtuous  indignation  of 
the  father,  and  the,  if  possible,  more  virtuous,  although 
respectful,  wrath  of  the  son,  and  he  ends  by  saying  x : — "  This 
scene  was  so  well  acted,  with  such  Passion  and  Gestures, 
between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  that  many  Speeches  were 
made  in  commendation  of  the  Conscience,  Integrity,  and 
Merit,  of  the  Young  Man,  and  a  motion  made,  '  That  the 
Father  might  be  enjoyn'd  by  the  House  to  be  Friends  with 
his  Son  : '  but  for  some  time  there  was,  in  Publick,  a  great 
distance  observ'd  between  them." 

Most  likely  there  had  been  some  exceedingly  free  speak 
ing  at  the  private  committee  upon  "  the  Scotch  Affairs,"  and 
many  things  may  have  been  said  by  both  Laud  and  Strafford,, 
which  they  never  intended  to  be  divulged  in  public ;  things, 
moreover,  which  would  be  exceedingly  dangerous  to  their 
liberty,  and  even  to  their  lives,  when  known  to  their  enemies. 

Strafford  had  not  long  been  under  arrest,  when  the  king 
took  a  most  unpropitious  step,  so  far  as  Laud's  interests  were 
concerned,  by  the  release  of  his  enemy,  Williams,  Bishop  of 
Lincoln.  There  can  have  no  longer  been  any  question  of 
Charles  having  shaken  himself  free  from  the  influence  of 
Laud,  when  he  could  do  such  a  thing  as  this.  Like  Laud> 
the  king  was  frightened,  as  well  he  might  be,  and  the  two 

1  "History  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  i.  p.  230. 


40']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  371 

instances  we  have  lately  seen  of  his  disapproval  of  Laud's 
proceedings  make  it  appear  that  he  was  half  inclined  to 
attribute  some  of  his  own  troubles  to  the  want  of  tact  of  his 
archbishop.  On  the  I7th  of  November,  Williams  was  re 
ceived,  and  conducted  into  Westminster  Abbey,  by  six 
bishops.1  Having  entered  the  abbey,  he  officiated,  the  day 
being  one  of  humiliation  and  prayer.  He  afterwards  took 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

The  reinstatement  of  Williams  was  a  serious  danger  to  the 
High-Church  party ;  but  on  the  very  day  that  he  entered  the 
abbey  with  so  much  pomp,  another  ominous  event  took 
place,  close  by,  at  St  Margaret's,  Westminster.  "  The  Min 
ister  Officiating  the  Second  Service  at  the  Communion-Table, 
according  to  the  ancient  Custom,  was  unexpectedly  inter 
rupted  by  the  naming  and  singing  of  a  Psalm,  to  the  great 
amazement  of  all  sober  and  well-minded  men."  5 

Williams  was  not  the  only  prisoner,  sentenced  by  Laud, 
who  was  liberated.  The  House  of  Commons  also  set  free 
Bastwick,  Prynne,  and  Burton,  who  arranged  to  meet  on 
their  journey  back  to  London,  and  were  triumphantly  escorted 
by  thousands  "  of  the  Puritan  Faction,"  carrying  "  Bays  and 
Rosemary  in  their  hands."  Prynne  had  not  reached  London 
many  hours  before  he  was  admitted  to  a  private  conference 
with  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  such 
a  meeting  boded  no  good  to  Laud,  who  had  preached  a  long 
sermon  to  each,  when  passing  sentence  upon  them,  at  their 
respective  trials. 

This  interview  took  place  early  in  December,  and  on  the 
eleventh  appeared  the  notorious  "Root  and  Branch  Petition."3 
It  complained  of  "the  Growth  of  Popery  and  increase  of 
Papists,  Priests  and  Jesuits  in  sundry  places,  but  especially 
about  London  since  the  Reformation  ;  the  frequent  venting 
of  crucifixes  and  Popish  pictures  both  engraved  and  printed, 
and  the  placing  of  such  in  Bibles." 

But  it  was  against  the  Established  Church  that  the  petition 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  435.  2  Ib.,  p.  439- 

3  Kushworth,  iv.  93  ;  Gardiner's  "  Const.  Doc.  of  the  Puritan  Revolution," 
pp.  67  and  foil. 


372  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

more  directly  asserted  itself,  pointing  out  "the  great  con 
formity  and  likeness  both  contrived  and  increased  of  our 
Church  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  in  vestures,  postures,  cere 
monies,  and  administrations,  namely  as  the  bishop's  rochets 
and  the  lawn-sleeves,  the  four-cornered  cap,  the  cope  and 
surplice,  the  tippet,  the  hood,  and  the  canonical  coat ;  the 
pulpits  clothed,  especially  now  of  late,  with  the  Jesuits 
badge"  (I.H.S.)  "upon  them  in  every  way." 

Then  there  was  the  superstitious  "  standing  up  at  the  Gloria 
Patri  and  at  the  reading  of  the  Gospel,  the  praying  towards 
the  East,  the  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  the  bowing  to  the 
altar  at  the  East,  the  cross  in  baptism,  the  kneeling  at 
communion." 

Moreover,  there  was  "the  turning  of  the  Communion  Tables 
altarwise,  the  setting  images,  crucifixes,  and  conceits  over 
them,  the  tapers  and  books  upon  them :  the  reading  of  the 
second  service  at  the  altar,  and  forcing  people  to  come  up 
thither  to  receive  "  (communion)  "  or  else  denying  the  sacra 
ment  to  them  ;  the  turning  the  altar  to  be  a  mercy-seat,  or 
the  place  of  God  Almighty,  which  is  a  plain  device  to  usher 
in  the  mass." 

The  bishops,  of  course,  were  railed  at  also,  nor  altogether 
illogicaliy.  "The  offices  and  jurisdictions  of  archbishops, 
lord  bishops,  deans  and  archdeacons,  being  the  same  way  of 
Church  Government,  which  is  in  the  Romish  Church,"  .  .  . 
"  the  same  arguments  supporting  the  Pope  which  do  uphold 
the  prelates,  the  overthrowing  the  prelates,  which  do  pull 
down  the  Pope ;  the  other  Reformed  Churches,  having  upon 
their  rejection  of  the  Pope  cast  the  prelates  out  also  as 
members  of  the  beast,  &c." 

It  was  for  this  reason,  said  the  petitioners,  that  "  the  prelates 
here  in  England,  by  themselves  or  their  disciples,  plead  and 
maintain  that  the  Pope  is  not  Antichrist,  and  that  the  Church 
of  Rome  is  a  true  Church,  hath  not  erred  in  fundamental  parts, 
and  that  salvation  is  attainable  in  that  religion." 

All  these  crying  evils  the  petitioners  wished  to  be  eradi 
cated,  "  root  and  branch." 

The   House   of  Commons    were    turning   their    attention 


40-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  373 

towards  the  iniquities  of  another  of  Laud's  friends.  Secretary 
Windebanke  had  signed  warrants  for  the  protection  of  several 
Catholics,  and  for  the  discharge  of  others  in  prison.  It  is  true 
that  he  had  signed  them  all  at  the  orders  of  the  king,  and 
that,  for  his  greater  security,  he  had  even  obtained  a  written 
pardon  from  the  king  himself;  but  Charles,  unnerved  and 
demoralized,  was  very  anxious  to  escape  the  odium  of  these 
transactions.  Windebanke,  therefore,  escaped  to  France, 
eventually  became  a  Catholic,  and  died  abroad. 

In  the  middle  of  December,  things  looked  more  threaten 
ing  every  day  and  every  hour  for  Laud.  He  tells  1  us  that 
"  there  arose  great  and  violent  Debates  in  the  House  of 
Commons  against  the  Bishops,  and  particularly  their  Votes  in 
Parliament"  On  the  i6th,  a  vote  was  taken  against  the 
canons,  as  contrary  to  law,  the  rights  of  Parliament,  and  the 
property  and  liberty  of  the  subject,  and  as  containing  "  matters 
tending  to  Sedition."  "  I,"  writes  Laud,  "  was  made  the 
Author  of  all,  and  presently  a  Committee  put  upon  me  to 
inquire  into  my  Actions  and  prepare  a  Charge.  The  same 
Morning  in  the  Upper-House,  I  was  Named  as  an  Incendiary, 
in  an  Accusation  put  in  by  the  Scottish  Commissioners :  For 
now  by  this  Time  they  were  come  to  the  Article  of  the 
Treaty,  which  reflected  upon  me.  And  this  was  done  with 
great  noise,  to  bring  me  into  Hatred  with  the  People,  especi 
ally  the  Londoners ;  who  approved  too  well  the  Proceedings 
of  their  Brethren  the  Scots,  and  debased  the  Bishops  and  the 
Church  Government  in  England" 

He  cannot  have  failed  to  see  for  himself  that  the  crisis 
was  at  hand.  Ballads  were  "cried  about  London-Streets" 
abusing  and  deriding  him.  Some  of  these  were  brought 
both  into  the  House  of  Commons  and  the  House  of  Lords ; 
and  it  was  ominous  that  while  the  peers  and  the  commons 
handed  them  from  one  to  the  other  and  laughed  at  them,  no 
steps  were  taken  to  suppress  them. 

On  the  1 8th  of  December,  a  direct  accusation  of  high 
treason  was  made  against  him  in  the  House  of  Commons  ; 
but  no  particular  charges  were  made ;  these,  it  was  said, 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  86. 


374  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [2rt?a67l64°" 

should  be  drawn  up  in  due  time.  Among  the  speakers  was 
a  member  named  Grymstone,  who  said  : — "  Look  upon  him 
as  hee  is  in  his  Highnesse,  and  hee  is  the  stye  of  all  pestilent 
filth,  that  hath  infected  the  State,  and  Government  of  the 
Church  and  Common  Wealth." l  What  is  now  termed  "  Par 
liamentary  Language  "  had  not  been  invented  in  those  days. 

Denzell  Hollys  was  chosen  to  convey  the  message  to  the 
Bar  of  the  Upper  House.  As  soon  as  he  reached  it,  he  im 
peached  Laud  for  the  crime  of  high  treason  ;  he  had  hardly 
done  so,  when  the  Scottish  Commissioners  brought  up  the 
distinct  charges  they  had  promised  against  him,  as  an  in 
cendiary  between  the  two  nations. 

I  have  several  times  said  that,  within  the  last  few  months, 
Laud's  nerves  had  been  considerably  shattered  ;  yet,  in  the 
face  of  this  double  attack,  he  rose  from  his  seat  with  his  old 
courage,  energy,  and  temper.  It  seemed  that,  when  the 
battle  really  began,  he  forgot  his  fears  and  rushed  eagerly 
into  the  fray.  He  not  only  indignantly  protested  his  own 
innocence,  but  began  angrily  to  arraign  his  accusers.  His 
well-known  irritable  voice  had  regained  all  its  wonted 
warmth,  when  a  chill  was  given  to  its  jarring  tones  by  the 
cold  incisive  orders  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  Lord  Saye 
and  Sele,  that  he  must  submit  himself  to  the  House,  which, 
without  hearing  his  proffered  defence,  committed  him,  like 
Strafford,  to  the  custody  of  the  Black  Rod. 

Maxwell,  the  Gentleman  Usher,  whose  prisoner  he  had  now 
to  consider  himself,  permitted  him  to  return,  in  his  own  com 
pany,  to  his  palace  at  Lambeth,  in  order  that  he  might  get, 
as  he  says,2  "  a  Book  or  two  to  Read  in,  and  such  Papers  as 
pertained  to  my  defence  against  the  Scots!'  WThat  follows  is 
pathetic.  "  I  stayed  at  Lambeth  till  the  Evening,  to  avoid 
the  gazing  of  the  People."  And  again,3  "  When  I  was  gone 
to  Lambeth,  after  some  little  discourse  (and  sad  enough)  with 
my  Steward,  and  some  private  Friends,  I  went  into  my 
chappel  to  Evening  Prayer.  The  Psalms  for  that  day 4  gave 
me  much  comfort,  and  were  observed  by  some  Friends  then 

1  "  Canterburie's  Doome."  2  Diary,  p.  "60. 

3  Ib.y  p.  74.  *  Psalms  93  and  94. 


SjfV.640-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  375 

present,  as  well  as  by  my  self.  And  upon  the  Comfort  I  then 
received,  I  have  every  day  since  (unless  some  urgent  Business 
prevented  me)  Read  over  both  these  Psalms,  and,  God 
willing,  purpose  so  to  do  every  day  of  my  Life.  Prayers 
being  ended,  I  went  with  Mr  Maxwell,  as  I  was  commanded  ; 
Hundreds  of  my  Poor  Neighbours  standing  at  my  Gates  to 
see  me  go,  and  Praying  heartily  for  my  safe  return  to  my 
House :  For  which,  I  blessed  God,  and  them." 

There  is  no  passage  more  eloquent,  in  the  whole  of  Mr 
Benson's  graceful  Life  of  Land,  than  that x  which  treats  of 
these  events  : — "  I  know  of  few  authentic  scenes  which  com 
bine  such  tragic  and  pathetic  elements — the  long,  restless 
day  spent  in  the  well-known  house,  musing  over  the  sudden 
snapping  off  of  all  designs  and  treasured  conceptions.  It  is 
not  probable  that  he  anticipated  death,  but  it  is  certain  that 
he  expected  to  be  sequestrated  from  his  Archbishopric.  We 
may  stop  to  wonder  a  little  over  the  thoughts  of  the  busy 
self-willed  man  at  such  a  crisis — so  sure  that  he  had  been 
doing  God's  work,  and  yet  so  irresistibly  arrested ;  and 
then  the  familiar  household  routine  not  even  interrupted  \ 
the  anxious  wonderings  and  confabulations  of  chaplains, 
secretaries,  and  domestics ;  the  silence  in  the  corridors,  and 
evening  chapel  as  the  day  closed  in  ;  and  the  little  active 
figure,  the  centre  of  so  much  life,  moving  to  his  place  for 
the  last  time,  almost  broken  down ;  then  the  barge  ordered 
as  usual,  and  the  crowd  gathering  at  the  gates — perhaps  the 
only  people  in  England  who  felt  a  spark  of  love  for  the  hard 
lonely  man." 

*  P.  120. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

WITH  Laud  safe  in  custody  (although  in  the  private  house  of 
Maxwell,  for  the  time  being),  his  deadly  enemy,  Prynne,  set 
to  work  with  renewed  vigour. 

In  order  to  comfort  Laud,  "a  Parliament  Man  of  good 
Note,  and  Interested  with  divers  Lords,"  sent  word  to  him, 
three  days  after  his  arrest,  that,  in  consequence  of  his  patience 
and  "  moderate  Carriage "  since  his  commitment,  the  peers 
were  not  now  "  so  sharp  against "  him  as  they  had  been  at 
first,  and  they  were  now  determined  only  to  turn  him  out  of 
his  archbishopric  and  the  king's  Council.  Very  cold  com 
fort,  indeed,  did  the  poor  man  consider  this  well-intended 
message.  "  So  I  see,"  he  says,1  "what  Justice  I  may  expect ; 
since  here  is  a  Resolution  taken,  not  only  before  my  Answer, 
but  before  any  Charge  was  brought  up  against  me."  He 
would  have  considered  this  resolution  trivial  enough,  and 
much  to  be  desired,  had  he  been  aware  of  the  real  resolution 
of  his  enemies,  which  was  to  have  his  blood. 

Meanwhile,  he  was  well-treated  and  rather  liked  than 
otherwise  under  the  roof  of  his  jailer,  Maxwell,  where  "he 
gained  so  much  on  the  good  opinion  of  the  Gentlewoman  of 
the  House,  that  she  reported  him  to  some  of  her  Gossips,  to 
be  one  of  the  goodest  men,  and  most  Pious  Souls,  but  with 
all  one  of  the  silliest  fellows  to  hold  talk  with  a  Lady  that 
ever  she  met  with  in  all  her  life."  Laud  was  not  at  all  a 
"  lady's  man,"  although  he  was  accustomed  to  the  society  of 
queens  and  princesses. 

To  wait  an  indefinite  time,  a  prisoner  in  a  private  house, 
tried  the  patience  of  a  man  of  a  naturally  impetuous,  and 
habitually  active  temperament.  Nothing  happened.  Each 
weary  day  and  anxious  hour  passed  without  any  charge  being 

1  Diary,  p.  60. 

376 


£rtca68641'  ]  Life  of  Archbishop  La^ld.  377 

lodged  against  him.  It  must  have  seemed,  as  he  had  written 
half  in  jest,  that  his  persecutors  really  intended  to  punish  him, 
not  only  untried,  but  unaccused. 

Laud  was  not  kept  at  the  king's  expense  at  the  Gentle 
man  Usher's ;  for  in  fees  and  for  his  "  Dyet,"  he  was 
charged  twenty  nobles  a  day,  and  his  bill,  after  being 
there  two  months  and  a  half,  came  to  £460,  133.  4d.  ; 1 
and,  as  he  says,  "  Mr  Maxwell  had  it  all,  without  any 
Abatement" 

At  last  the  charges  were  prepared,  and  Laud  was  conducted 
to  the  House  of  Lords  to  hear  them.  Pym,  Hampden,  and 
Maynard  carried  them  up  from  the  Commons  to  the  Lords, 
says  Rushworth  ; 2  but  Laud  himself  writes  on  Friday,  Feb 
ruary  26th  3 : — "  This  day  I  had  been  full  ten  weeks  in  re 
straint  at  Mr  Maxwell's  House.  And  this  day,  being  St 
Angustiris  day,  my  Charge  was  brought  up  from  the  House 
of  Commons  to  the  Lords,  by  Sir  Henry  Vane  the  Younger." 
(This  was  the  Vane,  who,  he  said,  had  made  "  a  cunning  con 
veyance  "  with  his  father  in  divulging  what  had  been  spoken 
in  "  the  private  Committee  concerning  the  Scotch  Affairs.") 
The  charge  "  consisted  of  fourteen  Articles." 

The  articles  were  read  to  him  at  the  Bar,  by  "  the  Clerk  of 
the  Parliament."  He  at  once  made  a  short,  but  dignified 
reply,  especially  to  a  charge  of  encouraging  the  Catholic 
religion,  "  as  if,"  says  he,  "  I  should  profess  with  the  Church  of 
England,  and  have  my  Heart  at  Rome,  and  labour  by  all 
cunning  ways  to  bring  Romish  Superstition  in  upon  the 
Kingdom.  This  (my  Lords)  I  confess,  troubles  me  exceedingly  ; 
and  if  I  should  forget  my  self,  and  fall  into  passion  upon  it " 
(here  the  old  familiar  Laud  comes  out !) ;  "I  should  but  be  in 
that  case  which  St  Jerome  confessed  he  was  in  ;  when  he 
knew  not  how  to  be  patient,  when  Falsehood  in  Religion  was 
charged  upon  him." 

Having  noticed  some  of  the  charges,  he  ended  his  speech, 
which  was  not  intended  to  be  a  formal  reply  to  them.  His 
regular  trial  had  yet  to  begin.  For  the  present  he  was 
ordered  to  be  committed  to  the  Tower ;  but,  for  his  con- 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  145.  2  Vol.  iii.,  pp.  195-199,  £c.  3  Diary,  p.  60. 


378  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

venience,  his  removal  thither  was  deferred  until  the  following 
Monday.  (It  was  now  Friday.) 

During  the  two  intervening  days,  he  cannot  have  looked 
forward  to  his  journey  to  the  Tower  with  feelings  altogether 
devoid  of  dread.  On  the  Friday  afternoon,  he  sent  his 
steward  to  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower  to  arrange  for  his 
lodging  there  "with  as  much  convenience  as  might  be." 
When  the  Monday  came,  Maxwell  had  duties,  as  Gentleman 
Usher,  which  prevented  the  journey  to  the  Tower  being  made 
very  late  in  the  evening,  as  Laud  had  specially  wished,  so  as 
to  escape  publicity ;  failing  this,  "  Noon,  when  the  Citizens 
were  at  Dinner,  was  chosen  as  the  next  fittest  time  for 
Privateness."1  Maxwell,  he  says,  "carried  me  in  his  Coach." 
"All  was  well,  till  I  passed  through  Newgate  Shambles,  and 
entred  into  Cheapside^  (A  place  in  which  so  many  of 
Laud's  prisoners  in  the  Star  Chamber  had  been  made  to 
stand  in  the  pillory !)  "  There  some  one  Prentice  first 
Hollowed  out,  more  and  "  ("and  more,"  is  put  in  the  margin) 
"  followed  the  Coach  (the  Number  still  increasing  as  they 
went)  till  by  that  time  I  came  to  the  Exchange,  the  shouting 
was  exceeding  great.  And  so  they  followed  me  with  Clamour 
and  Revilings,  even  beyond  Barbarity  it  self ;  not  giving  over, 
till  the  Coach  was  entred  in  at  the  Tower-Gate.  Mr  Maxwell, 
out  of  his  Love  and  Care,  was  extreamly  troubled  at  it ;  but  I 
bless  God  for  it,  my  Patience  was  not  moved :  I  looked  upon 
a  higher  Cause,  than  the  tongues  of  Sliiinei  and  his  Children." 
Or,  as  his  biographer,  Heylin,  called  them,  "the  Raskle 
Rabble."  It  ought  not,  however,  to  be  forgotten  that  Laud 
had  been  very  glad  that  Prynne,  Burton,  Bastwick,  and  others 
should  be  exposed  to  the  "Tongues  otSkimei  and  his  Children." 

His  imprisonment  created  a  great  sensation,  not  only  in 
England,  but  also  on  the  Continent,  and  the  very  worst  fears 
were  expressed  as  to  the  probable  outcome  of  it.  Grotius 
sent  his  friend  Pococke,  an  Oriental  scholar,  to  offer  him  his 
sympathy,  and  to  beseech  him  to  make  his  escape,  assuring 
him  that  if  he  would  seek  a  refuge  on  the  Continent,  he  would 
be  gladly  welcomed.2 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  174.  2  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1644-45  ;  Preface,  p.  xxii. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  379 

To  this  the  archbishop  replied  l : — "  I  can  by  no  means 
be  persuaded  to  comply  with  my  friend  Grotius's  advice.  An 
escape,  indeed,  is  feasible  enough  ;  yea,  it  is,  I  believe,  the 
very  thing  which  my  enemies  desire;  for  every  day  an 
opportunity  for  it  is  presented  to  me,  a  passage  being  left 
free,  in  all  likelihood  for  this  very  purpose,  that  I  should  en 
deavour  to  take  advantage  of  it ;  but  they  shall  not  be  grati 
fied  by  me  in  what  they  appear  to  long  for.  I  am  almost  70 
years  old,  and  shall  I  now  go  about  to  prolong  a  miserable 
life,  by  the  trouble  and  shame  of  flying  ?  Besides,  whither 
should  I  fly  ?  ...  No,  I  am  resolved  not  to  think  of  flight, 
but,  continuing  where  I  am,  patiently  expect  to  bear  what  a 
good  and  wise  Providence  hath  appointed  me,  of  what  kind 
soever  it  may  be." 

The  very  day  that  he  was  taken  to  the  Tower,  a  committee 
was  named  in  the  House  of  Lords  to  examine  into  "  Innova 
tions  in  Doctrine  or  Discipline,  introduced  into  the  Church 
without  Law  since  the  Reformation."  To  Laud's  intense 
indignation,  it  was  to  consist  of  ten  earls,  ten  barons,  and 
ten  bishops  ;  so,  as  he  writes,  "  the  Lay  Votes  will  be  double 
to  the  Clergy'' 

These  ten  clergy,  or  rather  the  other  nine  besides  himself, 
were  summoned  in  a  letter  by  Laud's  foe,  Williams,  Bishop 
of  Lincoln,  who  wrote  with  his  "  best  Wishes "  "  in  CJirist 
Jesus"  to  say  that  they  were  to  attend  "as  Assistant  in  that 
Committee"  and  to  help  their  lordships  to  find  out  what  was 
<(  behoveful  for  the  good  of  the  Church  and  State."  They 
were  to  "prepare"  their  "Thoughts,  Studies  and  Meditations 
accordingly,"  and  he  recommended  them  "  to  God's  protec 
tion,"  signing  himself  their  "very  loving  Friend  and  Brother."2 
A  copy  of  this  got  into  Laud's  hands  and  must  have  annoyed 
him  excessively. 

The  poor  prisoner  "  setled  "  himself  in  his  "  Lodging  in  the 
Tower"  where,  he  says,  "  I  pass  my  weary  time  as  well  as  I 
can."  After  his  active  life,  this  must  have  been  a  most  un 
welcome  change.  When  he  had  been  there  a  fortnight, 
-someone  told  him  an  anecdote,  which  he  records  as  follows.3 

1  "Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1644-45;  Preface,  p.  xxii.       -  "Hist.,  "p.  175-      3  M. 


380  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

"On  Saturday,  Mar.  13,  Divers  Lords  dined  with  the  Lord 
Herbert,  Son  to  the  Earl  of  Worcester,  at  his  new  House  by 
Fox-Hall  in  Lambeth.  As  they  came  back  after  dinner,  three 
young  Lords  were  in  a  Boat  together,  and  St  Paul's  Church 
was  in  their  Eye.  Hereupon  one  of  them  said,  he  was  sorry  for 
my  Commitment,  if  it  were  but  for  the  building  of  St  Pauls, 
which  would  go  but  Slowly  on  there-while.  The  Lord  Brook,, 
who  was  one  of  the  three,  replyed,  /  hope  one  of  us  shall  live 
to  see,  no  one  stone  left  upon  another  of  that  building!' 

This  was  not  very  consoling  news ;  for  it  showed  that 
others,  besides  the  "  Raskle  Rabble,"  felt  ill-will  both  towards 
Laud  and  the  church  which  he  so  greatly  loved. 

Three  weeks  after  Laud  had  been  imprisoned  in  the  Tower,, 
a  great  trouble  befell  him  in  the  trial  of  his  bosom  friend, 
Straffbrd,  in  Westminster  Hall ;  it  lasted  about  three  weeks,, 
with  a  few  intervals,  and  Laud  says  that  "  the  Earl  got  all 
the  time  a  great  deal  of  Reputation  by  his  Patient,  yet 
Stout  and  clear  Answers." *  The  popular  feeling  against 
him  was,  nevertheless,  tremendous,  and  the  names  of  all  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Commons  who  opposed  the  bill  of 
attainder,  u  were  Pasted  up  at  the  Exchange  under  the  Title 
of  Straffordians." 

Laud's  anxiety  as  to  the  fate  of  his  friend  must  have  been 
still  further  embittered  by  the  very  shilly-shallying  conduct 
shown  by  the  king  in  the  matter ;  for  Charles's  faithlessness, 
threatened  danger  to  his  own  life,  as  well  as  to  Strafford's.. 
When  the  trial  had  been  proceeding  for  about  ten  days,  the 
king  went  into  the  House  of  Lords  and  declared  to  the 
members  of  both  Houses  that  he  had  been  present  at  each 
day's  hearing,  and  had  listened  to  all  the  evidence  and  all 
the  arguments  with  the  greatest  care,  and  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  "that  his  Fault,  whatever  it  were,  could  not 
amount  to  Treason ; "  he  added  that  he  would  never  be 
able  to  wrong  his  honour  or  his  conscience  by  passing  a  bill 
finding  him  guilty  of  treason  ;  but  that  if  they  would  "  pro 
ceed  by  way  of  Misdemeanour"  "  he  would  concur  with  them, 
in  any  sentence." 

1  "Hist., "p.  176. 


Sr68641']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  38 1 

It  must  have  gone  to  Laud's  heart  to  put  on  paper  his 
disapproval  of  this  conduct  of  the  king,  who  had  formerly 
obeyed  him  so  implicitly,  and  whom  he  had  loved  with  such 
devotion  for  so  long  a  time  ;  but  he  would  speak  the  truth 
and  he  proceeds  : — "  This  displeased  mightily,  and  I  verily 
think  it  hastened  the  Earls  Death.  And  indeed  to  what  end 
should  the  King  come  voluntarily  to  say  this,  and  there, 
unless  he  would  have  abode  by  it,  whatever  came  ?  And  it 
had  been  far  more  Regal  to  reject  the  Bill  when  it  had  been 
brought  to  him  (his  Conscience  standing  so  as  his  Majesty 
openly  professed  it  did),  than  to  make  this  Honourable 
Preface,  and  let  the  Bill  pass  after." 

How  he  must  have  wished  that  he  could  have  been  at  the 
side  of  Charles  to  prevent  his  doing  this  stupid  thing,  as  he 
flattered  himself  he  had  prevented  his  doing  many  a  stupid 
thing  in  the  past ! 

The  mob  was  trying  to  intimidate  the  king,  his  court,  and 
the  Lords  ;  "  Citizens  of  London  and  Prentices  came  down  in 
Multitudes  to  the  Parliament,  called  there  for  Justice,  and 
pretended  all  Trade  was  stopp'd,  till  Justice  was  done  upon 
the  Earl  of  Strafford."  Nor  were  they  by  any  means  unsuc 
cessful.  "  Upon  Sunday,  May  9,  the  King  was  so  laid  at,  and 
so  frighted  with  these  Bugbears,  that  if  Justice  were  not  done, 
and  the  bill  passed  for  the  Earl  of  Strafford 's  Execution,  the 
Multitude  would  come  the  Next  Day,  and  pull  down  White- 
Hall  (and  God  knows  what  might  become  of  the  King  him 
self),  that  these  fears  prevailing,  his  Majesty  gave  way,  and 
tJie  Bill  passed ;  and  that  Night  late,  Sir  Dudly  Carlton,  one 
of  the  Clerks  of  the  Council,  was  sent  to  the  Tower,  to  give 
the  Earl  warning  that  he  must  prepare  to  Dye  the  Wednesday 
Morning  following." 

It  is  much  to  Laud's  honour  that  he  gives  no  further  de 
tails  of  the  king's  weakness  and  faithlessness  on  this  occasion, 
if  he  knew  them,  which  he  probably  did.  It  is  almost  need 
less  to  say  that  every  reader  of  English  history  is  aware  of 
the  pitiable  condition  of  vacillation,  fear,  and  distress,  in 
which  the  king  spent  that  Sunday  ;  of  the  warning  by  Juxon 
—who  was  to  succeed  Laud  in  the  Archbishopric  of  Canter- 


382  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

bury  and  to  attend  Charles  himself  on  the  scaffold — that  he 
ought  on  no  account  to  shed  innocent  blood  by  consenting  to 
the  bill;  of  the  sinister  advice  of  Williams,  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
to  the  effect  that  whatever  the  king's  private  and  individual 
opinion  might  be,  he  was  bound  to  concur  in  that  of  his  two 
houses  of  Parliament ;  and  of  the  grave  representations  which 
were  made  to  his  Majesty  of  the  dangers  which  would 
threaten  himself  and  his  family  in  the  case  of  his  rejecting 
the  bill  which  would  forfeit  the  life  of  his  devoted  friend  and 
faithful  servant. 

StrafFord,  says  Laud,  "  received  the  Message  of  Death  with 
great  Courage,  yet  Sweetness  ;  (as  Sir  Dudly  himself  after  told 
me :)."  On  the  Monday  morning,  he  sent  for  the  Bishop  of 
Armagh,  who  went  to  see  Laud,  when  he  left  Strafford,  and 
told  him  "  that  he  never  knew  any  Layman  in  all  his  Life, 
that  so  well  and  fully  understood  Matters  of  Divinity,  as  the 
Earl  did,  and  that  his  Resolutions  were  as  firm  and  good." 

Laud  then  says  that  Strafford  made  "two  Suits  to  his 
Majesty"  the  first  that  he  might  "  Dye  privately,"  the  second 
that  he  might  be  respited  till  the  Saturday.  Charles  sent 
both  requests  to  the  houses  of  Parliament,  and  both  were 
refused. 

And  now  Laud  relates  a  circumstance  which,  had  "the 
Church  "  been  the  Catholic  Church,  might  have  obtained  for 
Strafford  canonisation  as  a  martyr. 

"  The  Earl  made  these  two  Suits  ;  in  the  mean  time  one 
Offer  was  made  to  him.  It  was  this,  That  if  he  would  em 
ploy  his  Power  and  Credit  with  the  King,  for  the  taking  of 
Episcopacy  out  of  the  Church,  he  should  yet  have  his  Life. 
His  Christian  Answer  was  very  Heroical ;  Namely,  That  he 
would  not  buy  his  Life  at  so  dear  a  rate" 

For  the  next  part  of  the  account  of  Strafford's  end,  so  far 
as  it  related  to  Laud,  I  must  refer  to  Heylin.1  The  night 
before  the  execution,  Strafford  sent  for  the  Lieutenant  of 
the  Tower  and  asked  whether  it  would  be  possible  that  he 
might  see  the  archbishop.  The  lieutenant  replied  that  he  had 
no  power  to  grant  his  request  without  an  order  from  Parlia- 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  450. 


*'•]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  383 

ment.  Then  Stratford  said  that,  if  the  interview  were  per 
mitted,  the  lieutenant  would  be  welcome  to  be  present  and 
hear  every  word  that  passed  between  them ;  "  for  it  is  not  a 
time  for  him  to  plot  Heresie,  or  me  to  plot  Treason." 

The  lieutenant  pleaded  his  inability  and  begged  his  lordship 
to  send  a  petition  at  once  to  the  Parliament  for  the  favour. 

"  No,"  answered  Strafford,  "  I  have  gotten  my  despatch 
from  them,  and  will  trouble  them  no  more ;  I  am  now 
Petitioning  an  Higher  Court,  where  neither  partiality  can 
be  expected,  nor  Error  feared."  And  then,  turning  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  was  present,  he  said  that  he 
would  tell  him  what  he  should  have  spoken  to  the  arch 
bishop,  and  would  ask  him  to  convey  the  matter  to  him. 
"  You  shall  desire  the  Archbishop  to  lend  me  his  Prayers 
this  night,  and  to  give  me  his  Blessing  when  I  do  go  abroad 
tomorrow ;  and  to  be  in  his  Window,  that  by  my  last 
Farewel  I  may  give  thanks  for  this,  and  all  other  his  former 
Favours." 

When  Laud  received  this  message,  he  said,  "  That  in  con 
science  he  was  bound  to  the  first,  and  in  duty  and  obligation 
to  the  second  ;  but  he  feared  his  weakness  and  passion  would 
not  lend  him  eyes  to  behold  his  last  Departure." 

Strafford  was  undoubtedly  Laud's  greatest  friend,  and,  now 
that  the  king  had  shown  his  faithlessness,  the  loss  of  such  a 
friend  would  be  so  much  the  greater.  It  was  only  natural 
that  he  should  dread  the  last  farewell,  especially  under  such 
trying  circumstances. 

The  next  morning  dawned,  and  the  hour  arrived  for 
Strafford  to  leave  his  chamber  and  walk  towards  the  scaffold. 
As  he  drew  near  the  window  of  the  room  which  he  was  in 
formed  was  that  of  the  archbishop,  he  said  to  the  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower  : — "  Though  I  do  not  see  the  Archbishop,  yet 
give  me  leave  I  pray  you  to  do  my  last  observance  towards 
his  Rooms." 

Almost  at  that  moment  the  figure  of  Laud  was  seen  behind 
the  iron  bars  of  the  window.  Strafiford  immediately  knelt 
down  and  exclaimed,  "  My  Lord,  your  Prayers  and  your 
Blessing." 


384  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Sl?68641' 

Laud's  hands  appeared  between  the  bars,  and  his  trembling 
voice  was  heard,  blessing  Strafford  and  praying  for  him. 
Then,  in  a  second,  all  was  silent,  and  the  dark  window  was 
vacant :  the  poor,  over-wrought  old  man  had  fallen  back, 
overcome  with  grief. 

Strafford,  who  had  risen  from  his  knees,  perceived  that  his 
old  friend  was  no  longer  at  the  window,  and  may  have  sus 
pected  the  cause.  Reverentially  bowing  down  again,  he 
cried  out,  so  that  Laud  should  hear  him  : — "  Farewel,  my 
Lord,  God  protect  your  Innocency." 

The  archbishop  heard  him  and  made  another  effort.  He 
was  just  able  to  say  "  that  he  hoped  by  God's  Assistance, 
and  his  own  Innocency,  that  when  he  came  to  his  own 
Execution  (which  he  daily  longed  for)  the  World  should  per 
ceive  he  had  been  more  sensible  of  the  Lord  Straff ords  Loss, 
than  of  his  own :  And  good  reason  it  should  be  so  (said  he) 
for  the  Gentleman  was  more  serviceable  to  the  Church  (he 
would  not  mention  the  State)  than  either  himself,  or  any  of 
all  the  Church-men  had  ever  been." 

Heylin  calls  this,  and  not  unjustly,  "A  gallant  Farewel  to 
so  eminent  and  beloved  a  Friend." 

Laud's  account  of  this  scene  is  much  shorter.  "  As  he 
passed  by,"  he  says, x  "  he  turned  towards  me,  and  took  the 
Solemnest  leave,  that  I  think  was  ever  by  any  at  a  distance 
taken  one  of  another ;  and  this  in  the  sight  of,"  Lord  New 
port,  Constable  of  the  Tower,  the  Bishop  of  Armagh,  Lord 
Cleveland,  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  "  and  divers  other 
Knights  and  Gentlemen  of  Worth.  Besides,  though  during 
the  time  of  both  our  Restraints,  and  the  nearness  of  our 
Lodgings,  we  held  no  Intercourse  with  each  other ;  yet  Sir 
William  Balfore,  then  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  told  me  often 
what  frequent  and  great  expressions  of  Love  the  Earl  made 
to  me." 

His  description  of  the  execution  is  dry  and  practical2: — 
41  The  Earl  prepared  himself :  And  upon  Wednesday  Morn 
ing,  about  Ten  of  the  Clock,  being  May  the  Twelfth,  he  wras 
Beheaded  on  the  Tower-Hill,  many  Thousands  beholding 
K'Hist./'p.  179.  2/£.,pp.  177,  178. 


>]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  385 

him.  The  Speech  which  he  made  at  his  End,  was  a  great 
Testimony  of  his  Religion  and  Piety,  &c."  All  this  is  a  little 
prosaic  ;  but  presently  he  becomes  more  animated  at  the 
thought  of  his  lost  friend,  and  adds : — "  Thus  ended  the 
Wisest,  the  Stoutest,  and  every  way  the  Ablest  Subject, 
that  this  Nation  hath  bred  these  many  Years.  The  only 
Imperfections  which  he  had,  that  were  known  to  me,  were 
his  want  of  Bodily  Health,  and  a  Carelessness  (or  rather 
Roughness)  not  to  oblige  any  :  And  his  Mishaps  in  this  last 
Action  were,  that  he  groan'd  under  the  Publick  Envy  of  the 
Nobles,  served  a  Mild  and  a  Gracious  Prince,  who  knew  not 
how  to  be,  or  to  be  made  great ; " — observe  here  how  Laud 
had  lost  confidence  in,  as  well  as  respect  for,  Charles — 
"  and  trusted  false,  perfidious  and  cowardly  Men  in  the 
Northern  Imployment,  though  he  had  many  Doubts  put  to 
him  about  it." 

Clarendon  gives  a  longer,  a  more  eloquent,  and  a  more 
critical  summary  of  the  character  of  Strafford  ;  but,  perhaps, 
the  best  part  of  it  is  the  conclusion,  in  which  he  says x : — "  In 
a  word,  the  Epitaph  which  PlutarcJi  records  that  Sylla  wrote 
for  himself,  may  not  be  unfitly  applied  to  him,  '  That  no  man 
did  ever  exceed  him,  either  in  doing  good  to  his  Friends,  or 
in  doing  Mischief  to  his  Enemies ;  for  his  acts  of  both  kinds 
are  most  notorious.'  "  Excellent,  again,  is  the  passage  in 
which  he  says  of  him  : — "  Of  all  his  Passions,  his  Pride  was 
most  predominant :  which  a  moderate  exercise  of  ill  Fortune 
might  have  corrected  and  reform'd  ;  and  which  was  by  the 
hand  of  Heaven  strangely  Punish'd,  by  bringing  his  Destruc 
tion  upon  him  by  Two  Things  that  he  most  despised,  the 
People  and  Sir  Henry  Vane." 

Of  Strafford's  affection,  Laud  never  harboured  a  doubt ; 
but,  to  his  intense  distress,  others  did  so  and  more  ;  for  he 
heard  that  "most  notorious  untruths"  on  this  point  "were 
swallowed  and  believed  by  the  most."  "  They  delivered  to 
the  World,  that  the  Earl  of  Strafford  drawing  near  to  his 
End,  when  he  saw  no  Remedy,  but  he  must  Dye,  fell  into 
great  and  passionate  Expressions  against  me  ;  that  I  and  my 

1  "Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  i.  p.  260. 
2  B 


386  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  [S^1.6*1' 

Counsels  had  been  the  Ruine  of  him  and  his  House  ;  and  that 
he  cursed  me  bitterly."  Few,  if  any,  of  the  many  troubles 
which  befell  Laud  in  the  course  of  his  long  confinement  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  can  have  given  him  as  much  pain  as  these 
"  untruths  "  concerning  his  relations  to  his  best,  his  dearest, 
and  his  most  faithful  friend. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

LAUD  was  keenly  sensitive,  especially  for  a  man  who  had  for 
so  many  years  held  prominent  public  positions.  He  con 
stantly  complains  of  "  libels  "  both  in  his  Diary  and  his  His 
tory.  Even  in  prison  he  laments  that,  not  only  libels,  but 
"  Ballads  against  me  were  frequently  sung  up  and  down  the 
Streets.  And  (I  thank  God  for  it)  they  were  as  full  of  False 
hood  as  Gall.  Besides,  they  made  base  Pictures  of  me  ; 
putting  me  into  a  Cage,  and  fastning  me  to  a  Post  by  a  Chain 
at  my  Shoulder,  and  the  like." 1  When  one  thinks  of  the 
equanimity  with  which — let  us  say — cabinet  ministers  endure 
the  thousands  of  "  base  Pictures  "  which  are  "  made  "  of  them, 
one  can  scarcely  forbear  a  smile  at  the  serious  evil  which 
Laud  considered  such  things  to  be.  He  goes  on  to  say  that 
"  divers  of  these  Libels  made  Men  sport  in  Taverns  and  Ale 
houses  ;  where  too  many  were  as  Drunk  with  Malice,  as  with 
the  Liquor  they  sucked  in." 

Among  the  "  libels  "  published  at  this  period  is  one  which 
was  scarcely  suited  to  an  ale-house.  It  is  entitled  T lie  Recan 
tation  Of  The  Prelate  of  Canterbury  :  Being  his  last  Advice  to 
Jiis  Brethren  the  Bishops  of  England :  To  consider  his  Fall, 
observe  the  Times,  forsake  their  Wayes,  and  to  joyne  in  this 
good  work  of  Reformation.  London,  Printed  1641.  I  have 
used  a  copy  of  its  frontispiece  for  my  own.  It  is  very  serious 
and  heavy  fooling,  so  much  so,  that  it  might  almost  deceive 
a  reader  into  fancying  that  it  is  what  it  pretends  to  be.  It  is 
partly  in  prose  and  partly  in  verse.  I  will  give  a  specimen 
of  each. 

"  Though  I  have  hitherto  deckt  my  self  with  a  kinde  of 
Majesty,  and  Grace,  in  my  Prelaticall  pride  arrayed  with 
Splendor,  and  taught  the  gazing  times  to  hide  my  faults, 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  180. 

387 


388  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

giving  my  Plots  good  Fortune,  yet  behold,  an  ungratious 
light  (sudden  as  a  Tempest  at  Sea)  hath  discovered  my 
nackednesse,  and  publisht  my  shame;  I  am  vile,  and 
abased,  trode  down,  and  hid  in  the  dust ;  Judgment  and 
Justice  take  hold  on  me,  and  cast  abroad  the  rage  of  their 
wrath,  which  will  certainly  extend  their  terrours  to  you  "  (the 
rest  of  the  bishops),  "  if  you  forsake  not  these  wayes,  whose 
going  down  are  to  the  chambers  of  death." l 

He  is  made  to  give  "the  world's  estimation  "  of  himself  in 
the  following  lines 2 : — 

"  Sp'rit  of  Delusion,  Church  and  State 
Have  found  this  wrapt  in  thy  black  fate  : 
Thou  roarest  forth  the  Canon  law, 
And  trembling  madst  them  stand  in  aw, 
And  both  the  Scepters  swaya'st,  but  now 
Thy  Mitre  tumbles  from  thy  brow. 
Thy  maske  is  torn,  and  we  do  see 
The  flames  of  thine  adulterate  eye, 
'Twas  from  the  North  was  heard  the  voice 
Making  all  England  to  rejoyce, 
Which  first  betrayed  thee  to  thy  shame, 
And  did  display  thy  stinking  fame  : 
With  tyrant  Laws,  and  Iron  rod, 
Thou  mad'st  the  prouder  Mountains  nod, 
And  Casdars  reel,  Thence  thou  wouldst  try 
The  Artick  Pole,  and  reach  the  Skie, 
But  thence  great  terrours,  lightnings,  thunder 
Did  teare  thy  throne,  thy  selfe  asunder, 
And  drown'd  thee  in  eternal  night 
Proud  and  counterfeited  light." 

A  more  serious  evil  shortly  befell  him  in  "  a  Tertian  Ague, 
which,"  he  says,  "was  Comfortless  in  a  Prison."  It  was 
fortunately  of  short  duration,  and  then  he  was  restored  to 
his  usual  state  of  health,  "  the  only  Comfort"  he  had  "in  this 
time  "  of  his  "  Affliction." 

And  here  I  may  observe,  that  with  the  exception  of  this 
short  attack  of  ague  and  a  strain  in  his  leg,  which  laid  him 
up  for  a  long  time,  Laud's  health,  and  certainly  his  nerves, 
appear  to  have  improved  during  the  four  years  which  he 

1  P.  4.  2  P.  1 8. 


i;ca68l641']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  389 

spent  in  the  Tower,  in  spite  of  the  anxieties  which  he  under 
went  there.  At  sixty-eight,  after  a  very  active  life,  the 
beneficial  effects  of  the  rest  and  quiet  of  the  old  fortress  seem 
to  have  more  than  counteracted  the  evil  consequences  of  the 
disgrace,  solitude,  and  threatening  prospects  of  his  imprison 
ment.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  surroundings  of 
the  Tower  of  London  were  very  different  then  from  what 
they  are  now ;  instead  of  the  densely  packed  population,  of 
a  low  class,  which  at  present  half-encircles  it,  and  the  filthy 
Thames,  the  overgrown  Billingsgate  market,  and  the  pro 
digious  modern  dockyards  in  its  neighbourhood,  a  few  houses 
here  and  there  in  the  open  fields,  markets  and  dockyards  on 
what  would  now  be  called  very  diminutive  scales,  and  the 
comparatively  clean  river  did  little  to  pollute  the  atmosphere 
of  the  fine  old  building,  standing  out  conspicuously  by  itself. 
Even  in  these  days,  officers  quartered  at  the  Tower  do  not 
find  much  fault  with  it  on  the  score  of  insalubrity,  and  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  its  best  "  lodgings,"  as  they  were  called, 
probably  offered  not  unhealthy  places  of  retirement  for  over 
worked  old  gentlemen,  while  the  Tower  gardens  afforded 
them  sufficient  opportunities  of  getting  fresh  air  and  moderate 
exercise.  Certainly,  many  lived  there  to  considerable  ages, 
and,  had  it  not  been  for  the  executioner's  axe,  very  likely 
Laud  might  have  become  an  octogenarian  in  his  prison. 

In  June  1641,  knowing  that  he  was  charged  with  treason 
by  the  civic  authorities  of  Oxford,  for  his  proceedings  in  the 
regulation  of  that  city  in  his  own  name,  as  chancellor,  he 
sent  to  the  king,  through  the  Bishop  of  London,  to  say  that 
although  he  had  answered  all  the  complaints  which  had  been 
made  against  him  in  the  matter,  he  considered  it  "  requisite  " 
that  he  should  "  Resign  the  Chancellorship  of  that  place." 
He  gave  "His  Majesty  such  Reasons,  as  he  approved,"  for 
his  doing  so  ;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  this  ready  approval 
of  his  Majesty  may  not  have  been  altogether  gratifying  to 
him. 

"  The  truth  is,"  he  says,1  "  I  suffered  much  by  the  Clamours 
of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  who  thought  it  long,  till  he  had 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  181. 


390  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  CSs.641' 

that  place,  which  he  had  long  gaped  for :  And  after  the 
Cloud  was  once  spread  over  me,  spared  me  in  no  Company ; 
though  I  had  in  all  the  time  of  my  Prosperity  observed  him 
in  Court,  more  than  ever  he  deserved  of  me." 

To  have  to  give  up  to  an  enemy  a  post  which  he  had  held 
so  long  and  with  so  much  pride,  in  his  dearly  beloved  Oxford, 
must  have  been  a  cruel  blow ! 

The  same  autumn,  King  Charles  "  rode  away  Post  into 
Scotland."  There  were  no  consultations  with  Laud  before 
he  made  important  expeditions  now,  and  his  former  mentor 
seemed  to  have  his  misgivings  as  to  what  foolish  things  his 
old  pupil,  with  no  tutor  to  look  after  him,  might  be  guilty  of. 
He  says  "  there  was  great  Scanning  about  this  Journey."  I 
may  add,  however,  in  the  words  of  Laud  himself,  "  What  the 
King  did  in  Scotland,  hath  no  Relation,  for  ought  I  yet  hear, 
to  this  poor  Story  of  mine." 

In  September  1641,  Laud  had  the  great  misfortune  to 
lose  his  old  factotum.  He  says  of  this  trouble,  "  my  Ancient, 
Loving,  and  Faithful  Servant,  and  then  my  Steward,  after  he 
had  served  me  full  Forty  and  Two  Years,  dyed,  to  my  great 
both  loss  and  grief.  For  all  my  Accounts  since  my  Com 
mitment,  were  in  his  Hands."  Of  his  death,  just  at  a  time 
when  he  himself  was  in  such  trouble,  he  writes: — "So  true 
it  is,  that  Afflictions  seldom  come  single." 

True  indeed  ;  for  another  was  treading  on  the  heels  of  the 
one  just  mentioned. 

There  was  a  parliamentary  recess,  during  which  the  Judge 
of  the  Prerogative  died.  This  post  was  in  the  gift  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  Laud  promptly  appointed 
a  certain  Dr  Merricke.  Then  a  "  Dr  Duck  missing  his  hopes 
of  this  Office,  by  his  own  absence  and  default,  and  finding 
me  under  this  thick  Cloud,  hoped  to  have  wrested  this  Office 
out  of  my  Hands,  and  his  to  whom  I  had  given  it,"  says 
Laud.  "This  was  one  of  the  basest,  and  most  ungrateful 
parts,  that  ever  Man  played  me."  Duck  tried  to  oust  Mer 
ricke  by  law,  and  herein  he  failed  ;  but  Williams,  who  had 
now  been  made  Archbishop  of  York,  induced  the  Lords  to 
sequester  Laud's  right  of  jurisdiction  as  archbishop  until 


!gca6864'-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  391 

such  a  time  as  he  should  be  either  acquitted  or  convicted  of 
the  charge  of  high  treason  which  had  been  brought  against 
him,  and,  further,  that  "  concerning  these  Ecclesiastical 
Benefices,  Promotions,  or  Dignities,  that "  were  "  in  his  dis 
posing,  he  "  should  present  for  approval  to  the  House  of  Lords 
the  names  of  such  persons  as  he  proposed  to  appoint  to  them. 
Laud  thought  this  "  very  hard  "  ;  but  really,  in  the  case  of 
an  archbishop  awaiting  his  trial  for  high  treason,  it  was  only 
what  should  have  been  expected.  He  appears  to  have  for 
gotten  that  Abbot's  jurisdiction  was  for  some  time  sequestered, 
when  he  was  archbishop,  and  that  he  himself  had  had  the 
principal  hand  in  administering  it. 

"  The  day  on  which  the  Houses  "  of  Parliament  met  again, 
says  Macaulay,1  "  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  epochs  in 
our  history.  From  that  day  dates  the  corporate  existence 
of  the  two  great  parties  which  have  ever  since  alternately 
governed  the  country."  "During  some  years  they  were 
designated  as  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads.  They  were  sub 
sequently  called  Tories  and  Whigs  ;  nor  does  it  seem  that 
these  appellations  are  likely  soon  to  become  obsolete." 
Nevertheless,  we  have  had  Conservatives  and  Liberals,  and 
Caves  of  Adullam  and  Fourth  Parties,  as  well  as  Unionists 
and  Separatists,  since  then,  and  of  Tories  and  Whigs  we  now 
hear  little  ! 

When  the  king  returned  from  Scotland,  he  was  received  in 
London  "  with  great  State  and  Joy,  and  Sumptuously  Enter 
tained."  In  old  days,  Laud  would  have  been  one  of  the  first 
men  he  would  have  seen  and  confided  in  ;  now,  Laud  was 
under  lock  and  key  at  the  Tower  and  the  king  made  no  sign 
to  him.  Still,  Laud  writes  that  his  good  reception  "  made 
divers  Men  think,  there  would  have  been  a  Turn  in  the 
present  business  "  ;  and  this,  of  course,  might  have  meant 
saving  Laud's  life,  and  possibly  even  a  restoration  of  his 
dignities ;  but  it  was  not  to  be.  "  What  it  might  have 
proved,"  he  writes,  "  if  the  King  would  have  presently  and 
vigorously  set  himself  to  vindicate  his  own  Just  Power,  and 
leave  them  their  Antient  and  Just  Priviledges,  is  not  I  think 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i. 


392  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Srt?68.641' 

hard  to  judge.  But  he  let  it  cool,  and  gave  that  which  is 
truly  the  Malignant  Faction  (but  call  others  so)  time  to 
underwork  him,  &c."  The  fact  was,  he  would  appear  to 
imply,  that  Charles  had  not  got  himself  at  his  elbow  now ; 
so  what  could  be  expected  ? 

It  is  amusing  to  read  that  Williams,  who  had  but  lately  got 
out  of  the  Tower  and  got  Laud  into  it,  and  had  succeeded 
in  getting  himself  made  as  good  an  archbishop  as  his  rival, 
was  suddenly  sent  back  to  prison  in  that  very  same  Tower, 
and,  like  Laud,  for  high  treason.  Both  these  deadly 
enemies,  therefore,  were  locked  up  in  the  Tower  at  the  same 
time,  and  both  on  charges  of  high  treason.  It  was  fortunate 
that  there  were  good  thick  walls  between  them. 

Nor  was  Williams  sent  alone  ;  nine  other  bishops  were 
sent  to  the  Tower  with  him  ;  so  that  there  were,  in  all,  eleven 
bishops  in  the  Tower,  including  two  archbishops.  Besides  this 
formidable  array,  there  was  a  sort  of  "  overflow  meeting,"  as  it 
is  the  fashion  to  say  in  these  days,  at  the  house  of  Maxwell, 
which  Laud  had  left  but  a  few  months  earlier ;  for  here  a 
couple  more  bishops,  old  and  infirm  bishops,  were  prisoners. 
Heylin,  as  might  be  expected,  writes  of  the  incarceration  of 
Williams  with  the  greatest  satisfaction.1  "  The  Archbishop 
of  York  was  now  so  much  declined  in  favour,  that  he 
stood  in  as  bad  termes  with  the  Common  People,  as  the 
other"  [Laud]  "did.  His  Picture  cut  in  Brass,  attired  in 
his  Episcopal  Robes,  with  his  square  cap  upon  his  head, 
and  Bandileers  about  his  Neck,  shouldring  a  Musket  upon 
one  of  his  shoulders,  &c."  "  Together  with  which  a  book 
was  Printed,  in  which  he  was  Resembled  to  the  Decoy- 
Duck  (alluding  to  the  Decoyes  in  Lincolnshire  where  he  had 
been  Bishop),  restored  to  Liberty  on  design,  that  he  might 
bring  more  Company  with  him  at  his  coming  back,  and  a  de 
vice  Ingraven  for  the  Front  of  the  Book,  which  represented 
the  conceit ;  and  that  not  unhappily.  Certain  I  am  that  our 
Archbishop  in  the  midst  of  those  sorrows  seemed  much 
pleased  with  the  Fancy,  whither  out  of  his  great  Love  to  wit, 
or  some  other  self-satisfaction  which  he  found  therein,  is  be- 

1  "Cyp.  Ang. ,"  p.  460. 


Srtca68641-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  393 

yond  my  knowledge."  It  can  hardly  be  beyond  the  know 
ledge  of  posterity  that  it  was  the  "  self-satisfaction  which  he 
found  therein"  which  pleased  Laud,  and  that  his  gratification 
did  not  proceed  purely  from  "  his  great  Love  to  wit." 

The  offence  committed  by  these  delinquent  bishops — I 
write  of  the  twelve,  of  course,  and  not  of  Laud — had  been 
that  they  had  had  the  audacity  to  present  a  "  Petition  and 
Protestation  "  to  the  king,  asserting  that  they  had  "  been  at 
several  times  violently  Menaced,  Affronted,  and  Assaulted 
by  multitudes  of  People,  in  coming  to  perform  their  service 
to  "  the  House  of  Lords  ;  that  they  had  been  "  chased  away 
and  put  in  danger  of  their  lives  "  ;  and  that  they  dared  "  not 
sit  to  Vote  in  the  House  of  Peers  "  unless  his  Majesty  would 
"  secure  them  from  all  Affronts,  Indignities,  and  Danger  in 
the  Premises."  Nor  were  their  fears  u  built  upon  Fancies  and 
Conceipts,  but  upon  such  Grounds  and  Objects,  as  "  might 
"  well  terrific  Men  of  great  Resolution  and  much  Constancy." 
Yet  they  were  "  called  upon,  by  several  and  respective  Writs, 
under  great  Penalties,  to  Attend  in  Parliament"  and  give 
their  votes.  All  they  begged  for  was  to  "  be  protected  from 
force  and  violence."  As  a  guarantee  of  their  good  faith,  they 
further  protested  that  they  did  "  abominate  all  Actions  and 
Opinions  tending  to  Popery" 

So  far,  so  good  ;  unfortunately  they  added  that  "all  Votes, 
Resolutions,  and  Determinations"  passed  during  "  their  forced 
and  violented  absence "  from  " the  said  Honourable  House" 
were  "  in  themselves  null."  This  was  more  than  the  House 
of  Commons  could  endure,  and  it  there  and  then  impeached 
the  dozen  bishops  for  high  treason. 

The  nervous  "  Head  of  the  Church  "  bore  the  imprisonment 
of  so  large  a  portion  of  his  bench  of  bishops  with  praise 
worthy  indifference ;  but  there  is  a  point  at  which  a  worm 
will  turn,  and  in  Charles's  case  it  was  a  hint  that  the  Commons 
contemplated  an  impeachment  of  the  Queen. 

Four  days  after  the  bishops  had  been  sent  to  the  Tower, 
the  Attorney-General,  at  the  king's  command,  appeared  at  the 
Bar  of  the  House  of  Lords — a  hard-worked  tribunal  of  late— 
and  impeached  Pym)  Hampden,  Holies,  Stroud,  Lord  Kim- 


394  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [ 

bolton,  and  Haslerig1  for  high  treason.  Instead  of  ordering 
them  at  once  into  custody,  the  House  of  Lords  appointed  a 
committee  to  search  for  precedents.  This  maddened  Charles, 
who,  on  his  own  responsibility,  sent  a  serjeant-at-arms  to  de 
mand  the  persons  of  the  impeached  members  in  the  Lower 
House.  The  Commons,  instead  of  sending  the  five  members, 
sent  a  message  to  say  that  they  required  time  for  mature 
deliberation.  At  this,  the  king  was  still  more  angry,  and,  the 
next  day,  he  went,  in  a  rather  melodramatic  fashion,  to  the 
House  of  Commons  in  person,  accompanied  by  his  guards 
and  a  number  of  officers  with  drawn  swords  to  seize  his  prey. 
The  objects  of  his  vengeance,  however,  had  avoided  a  scene, 
by  the  very  simple  method  of  absenting  themselves,  and 
Charles  was  placed  in  a  ridiculous  position,  for  getting  into 
which  he  was  condemned  by  friends  as  well  as  foes. 

The  Commons  adjourned  for  a  week,  and  then  the  five  im 
peached  members  came  to  the  House  by  water,  with  an  escort 
of  two  thousand  sailors  in  boats,  while  eight  pieces  of  cannon 
were  mounted,  and  detachments  of  the  trained  bands  were 
placed  on  each  bank  of  the  river  for  their  defence.  On  land 
ing  they  were  received  by  four  thousand  mounted  horsemen, 
and,  amidst  shouts  of  joy  and  the  music  of  military  bands, 
they  walked  in  procession  to  the  House  of  Commons,  the 
populace  execrating  the  king  in  shouts  and  screams  as  they 
passed  Whitehall. 

This  complete  defeat  of  the  king  must  have  been  sad  news 
to  Laud,  and  it  left  him  little  hope  of  escape  from  the  block 
and  the  axe. 

He  writes  that  the  king  and  queen  had  gone  to  Dover,  and 
that  her  Majesty  had  resolved  to  "  go  into  Holland,  with  her 
young  Daughter  the  Princess  Mary,  who  the  Year  before  was 
Married  to  the  Prince  of  Aurange  his  Son.  But  the  true 
Cause  of  this  intended  Journey,  was  to  be  out  of  the  Fears, 
Discontents  and  Dangers  (as  she  conceived)  of  the  present 
Times." 

The  question  now  presents  itself  whether  Laud,  in  spite  of 
the  dignified  protest  against  all  idea  of  attempting  an  escape, 

1  Lingard,  vol.  vii.  chap.  vi. 


lrtca6864I-]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  395 

which  he  is  said  to  have  sent  to  Grotius  soon  after  he  had 
been  taken  to  the  Tower,  did  not,  later  on,  wish  that  he,  too, 
could  take  a  "journey"  to  the  Continent,  and  get  clear  away 
from  "  Fears,  Discontents  and  Dangers."  Who  could  blame 
him  if  he  did?  Windebanke  had  fled  abroad,  so  had  Cot- 
tington,  so  also  had  Lord-Keeper  Finch;  why  should  not 
Laud  do  the  same — if  he  could  ? 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  notice  here  a  passage  from  Lin- 
gard,  which  has  some  bearing  on  this  matter1: — "There  is 
however,  some  reason  to  believe  that,  in  the  solitude  of  his 
cell,  and  with  the  prospect  of  the  block  before  his  eyes,  he 
began  to  think  more  favourably  of  the  Catholic  church.  At 
least,  1  find  Rosetti  inquiring  of  Cardinal  Barberini  whether, 
if  Laud  should  escape  from  the  Tower,  the  pope  would  afford 
him  an  asylum  and  a  pension  in  Rome.  He  would  be  con 
tent  with  one  thousand  crowns — '  il  quale,  quando  avesse 
potuto  liberarsi  dalle  carceri,  sarebbe  ito  volontieri  a  vivere  e 
morire  in  Roma,  contendandosi  di  mille  scudi  annui.'  Bar 
berini  answered,  that  Laud  was  in  such  bad  repute  in  Rome, 
being  looked  upon  as  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles  in  Eng 
land,  that  it  would  previously  be  necessary  that  he  should 
give  good  proof  of  his  repentance  ;  in  which  case  he  should 
receive  assistance,  though  such  assistance  would  give  a  colour 
to  the  imputation  that  there  had  always  been  an  understand 
ing  between  him  and  Rome.  *  Era  si  cattivo  il  concetto,  che 
di  lui  avevasi  in  Roma,  cioe  che  fosse  stato  autore  di  tutte  le 
torbolenze  d'Inghilterra,  che  era  necessario  dasse  primo  segni 
ben  grandi  del  suo  pentimento.  Ed  in  tal  caso  sarebbe  stato 
ajutato  ;  sebene  saria  paruto  che  nelle  sue  passate  resoluzioni 
se  la  fosse  sempre  intesa  con  Roma.' — From  the  MS.  abstract 
of  the  Barberini  papers  made  by  the  canon  Nicoletti  soon 
after  the  death  of  the  cardinal." 

To  put  a  right  interpretation  upon  these  exceedingly  im 
portant  letters  is  not  very  easy.  Did  Rosetti  speak  on  his 
own  authority  only,  or  on  that  of  Laud  himself,  when  he 
asserted  that  he  would  "  be  content  with  one  thousand 
crowns"  as  a  pension?  It  reads  as  if  he  had  had  better 

1  "  Hist,  of  Eng.,"  vol.  viii.,  note  at  the  end  of  chap.  i. 


396  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  &1641' 

grounds    than   his    own    expectations   when    he    wrote    so 
decisively. 

Then,  why  a  pension  ?  A  pension  presupposes  past  ser 
vices.  What  services  had  Laud  ever  rendered  to  the  Pope  ? 
Barberini  himself  notices  this  point,  when  he  says  that  "  such 
assistance  would  give  a  colour  to  the  imputation  that  there 
had  always  been  an  understanding  between  him  and  Rome." 
It  may  be  replied  that  Barberini  does  not  deny  that  there 
had  been  some  such  understanding.  To  this,  on  the  other 
side,  it  might  be  answered  that  Barberini  distinctly  states 
that  he  "  was  in  bad  repute  in  Rome,  being  looked  upon  as 
the  cause  of  all  the  troubles  in  England,"  and  that,  before 
any  help  could  be  given  to  him,  "  it  would  previously  be 
necessary  that  he  should  give  good  proof  of  his  repentance." 
Even  to  this  a  counter  reply  is  open.  Barberini  says  that  if 
"  he  should  give  good  proof  of  his  repentance,"  "  he  should 
receive  assistance."  Now,  why  should  he  receive  assistance  ? 
Is  it  usual  to  give  pensions  to  repentant  heretics  and  per 
secutors  of  the  Church  ?  Converts  would  be  expensive  at 
a  thousand  crowns  a  head,  and  much  more  at  a  thousand 
crowns  a  year  for  the  rest  of  their  lives.  It  is  very  notice 
able,  too,  that  not  a  word  is  said  on  either  side  about  any 
question  of  his  conversion.  Altogether,  it  might  be  main 
tained,  with  some  colour,  that  this  correspondence  leads  to 
the  supposition  that,  at  one  time  or  another,  if  not  from  time 
to  time,  the  authorities  at  Rome  came  to  some  understand 
ing  with  Laud  that,  in  return  for  certain  benefits  on  their 
part,  (whether  monetary  or  otherwise,  or  whether  personal  or 
otherwise,  there  is  nothing  to  show),  he  should  contrive  to 
control  the  persecution  of  Catholics  in  England,  which  the 
laws  of  that  country  enjoined,  within  the  narrowest  possible 
limits ;  that  he  had  fulfilled  his  promise  faithfully  up  to  a 
certain  point  ;  but  that,  when  the  Puritans  and  Covenanters 
had  raised  an  outcry  against  him  for  his  toleration  of  Popery, 
he  had  become  alarmed  and  had  permitted,  and  even  per 
petrated,  cruel  proceedings  against  Catholics  in  England, 
and  that  it  was  for  this  offence  that  he  must  give  good  proof 
of  his  repentance,  before  he  could  receive  an  asylum  and 


41']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  397 

a  pension  for  his  former  services.  Those  who  choose  to  hold 
such  a  theory,  might  not  unreasonably  refer  to  the  story  of 
the  offers  of  a  cardinal's  hat,  as  tending  to  prove  that  over 
tures  were  made  to  him  by  Rome,  that  he  may  have  been 
told  that  if  he  would  become  a  Catholic,  he  would  be  made 
a  cardinal,  and  that  even  if  he  would  suppress  the  persecu 
tion  of  the  English  Catholics  he  should  be  well  paid  for  so 
doing. 

Another  thing  in  favour  of  the  advocates  of  such  a  theory 
is  that  Cardinal  Barbcrini  undoubtedly  sent  money,  in  order 
to  obtain  relief  for  the  Catholics  in  England,  through  other 
channels.  Henrietta  Maria,  in  1641  or  1642,  applied  for 
assistance  in  the  troubles  of  her  husband  to  the  Pope,  asking 
him  for  a  grant  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  crowns  out 
of  the  treasury  in  the  Castle  of  St  Angelo,1  and  promising  in 
return  that  the  king  should  forthwith  abolish  the  penal  laws 
against  Catholics  in  Ireland,  and,  as  soon  as  possible,  against 
those  in  England  also.  The  Holy  Father  knew  a  little  too 
much  of  Charles  to  be  tempted  by  the  offer  of  such  a  bar 
gain,  and  replied  that  the  papal  treasury  was  a  trust  which 
could  only  be  applied  for  the  benefit  of  Catholic  princes, 
nor  even  in  their  case  except  where  their  interests  coincided 
entirely  with  those  of  the  Church  ;  but  Barberini  (his  nephew), 
in  conveying  the  refusal,  gave  the  queen  a  present  of  thirty- 
five  thousand  crowns  out  of  his  own  purse,  hoping  thereby 
to  induce  her  husband  to  show  favour  to  the  poor  persecuted 
English  Catholics. 

Looking  at  the  matter  from  every  point  of  view,  the  rela 
tions  of  Laud  to  the  Roman  authorities  cannot,  on  the 
evidence  at  present  available,  be  at  all  definitely  ascertained. 
I  cannot  find  any  certain  proof  that  he  ever  gave  signs  of 
an  inclination  to  become  a  Catholic,  and  I  should  not  like 
to  think  that  he  took  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  bribe  for 
tempering  his  zeal  against  the  "  popish  recusants "  ;  at  the 
same  time,  it  must  be  admitted  that,  in  spite  of  his  declama 
tions  against  their  errors  and  their  "  unconformableness,"  his 
angry  attempt  at  a  refutation  of  Father  Fisher's  explanation 

1  Lingard's  "I list.,"  vol.  vii.  chap.  vi. 


'398  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [SSs.641' 

of  the  Catholic  position,  and  his  protest  on  the  scaffold  itself 
that  he  had  "  always  lived  in  the  Protestant  religion "  and 
was  about  to  die  in  it,  he  acted,  on  the  whole,  and  except  in 
a  few  aggravated  instances,  far  more  leniently,  and  with  much 
greater  toleration  towards  the  Catholics  than  towards  those  in 
his  own  Church  who  held  certain  views  which  were  different 
from  his  own  and  transgressed  what  he  considered  to  be  its 
laws,  and  the  question  remains  whether  he  did  so  from  purely 
disinterested  motives.  It  is  true  that  in  those  days  little  was 
thought  of  accepting  a  bribe  ;  but,  while  I  have  done  all  in 
my  power  to  do  ample  justice  to  the  opposite  point  of  view, 
from  my  own  it  appears  that  Laud  was  probably  quite 
guiltless  of  having  been  influenced  in  his  conduct  towards 
Catholics  by  any  presents,  or  income,  or  pension  received 
from  Rome  ;  and  I  have  come  to  this  conclusion,  not  so  much 
from  any  evidence  on  this  particular  point,  as  from  a  study 
of  the  man's  whole  life  and  character,  with  which  any  such 
conduct  would  have  been  exceedingly  inconsistent. 

The  backsliding  of  the  king — King  Charles  the  Martyr  !— 
was  a  perpetual  sorrow,  as  well  as  danger,  to  Laud  in  his 
prison.  On  his  very  journey  to  Dover,  to  get  the  queen  safe 
out  of  the  country,  the  king  sent  a  message  to  both  Houses 
of  Parliament,  in  which  these  words  occurred l : — "  Concerning 
the  Government  and  Liturgy  of  the  Church,  his  Majesty  is 
willing  to  declare,  that  he  will  refer  that  whole  Consideration 
to  the  Wisdom  of  his  Parliament,  which  he  desires  them  to 
enter  into  speedily,  that  the  present  Distractions  about  the 
same  may  be  composed,  &c."  To  refer  the  government  of 
the  Church  and  the  liturgy  of  the  Church  to  the  greatest 
enemies  of  both,  was  practically  to  sacrifice  his  Church  in 
order  to  save  his  own  head,  and,  if  possible,  his  crown  on  the 
top  of  it.  Well  might  Laud  write,  "  So  here  they  are  made 
Masters  of  all,  and  in  a  time  of  great  exasperation  against  the 
Clergy  and  the  Bishops"  The  latter,  too,  were  at  that  time 
turned  out  of  the  House  of  Lords  ;  so  they  could  not  vote 
in  any  legislation  which  might  take  place  about  ecclesiastical 
matters. 

1  "Hist., "p.  1 88. 


4I>]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  399 

The  very  day  that  this  objectionable  message  was  sent  by 
the  king,  an  order  was  issued  by  the  House  of  Lords  that 
""  the  Twelve  Bishops  might  put  in  Bayl  if  they  would." 
They  had  now  been  imprisoned  more  than  six  weeks  in  the 
Tower,  and  "  They  were  glad  Men,  procured  their  Bayl,  and 
went  out  of  the  Tower."  This  order  for  their  release  on  bail 
"was  known  to  the  House  of  Commons''1  well  enough;  but 
they  pretended  to  be  ignorant  of  it  and  did  nothing  to  pre 
vent  the  twelve  bishops  from  walking  out  of  prison.  When, 
however,  they  "  were  sure  the  Bishops  were  come  forth  and 
gone  to  their  several  Lodgings,  they  sent  a  Message  to  the 
Lords,  that  they  desired  the  Bishops  might  be  presently  re 
manded  to  safe  Custody,  or  else  they  might  and  would  Pro 
test  against  their  Lordships  for  Breach  of  the  Privileges  of 
their  House:  Because  being  Impeached  by  them,  tlie  Lords 
had  Bayled  them,  without  acquainting  them  first  with  it  in  a 
Parliamentary  way" 

The  Commons,  therefore,  had  waited  until  the  bishops  had 
actually  been  set  at  liberty  on  the  order  of  the  Lords,  on  pur 
pose  to  let  the  latter  put  themselves,  as  the  Commons  held, 
in  the  wrong  !  As  Laud  writes,  "  though  the  Bishops  had  a 
great  Indignity  and  Scorn  put  upon  them  ;  yet  that  which 
was  put  upon  the  Lords  was  far  greater." 

Instead  of  showing  firmness,  the  Lords,  following  the  ex 
ample  of  the  king,  lost  courage  and  yielded,  "  and  the  poor 
Bishops  were  brought  back  again  to  the  Toiver  the  next 
Morning."  And  there  we  must  leave  them  for  the  present, 
merely  remarking  that  they  were  kept  in  prison,  from  first  to 
last,  "just  eighteen  weeks."1 

I  will  end  this  chapter  by  observing  that,  as  if  there  were 
not  already  troubles  enough  with  Scotland,  a  rebellion  broke 
out  in  Ireland,  of  which  Laud  writes: — "  The  Irish  pretended 
the  Scots  Example,  and  hoped  they  should  get  their  Liberties, 
and  the  Freedom  of  their  Religion^  as  well  as  they." 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  466. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

ONE  Sunday,  Laud  received  a  visit  at  the  Tower  from  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr  Edward  Hyde,  who 
was  many  years  later  to  become  Lord  Clarendon  and  to  write 
much  about  him  in  his  History  of  the  Great  Rebellion.  They 
were  sitting  together  in  Laud's  bedroom,  when  a  message 
was  delivered  that  a  Mr  Hunt  desired  an  interview  with  him. 
Leaving  Hyde  in  the  inner  room,  Laud  went  into  his  sitting- 
room,  where  he  found  "  a  tall  Gentleman  "  waiting  for  him. 
This  man  began  by  saying  that,  although  he  was  unknown 
to  the  archbishop,  he  came  to  do  him  a  "  service  in  a  great 
Particular,"  and  gave  his  assurance  that  he  had  come  purely 
on  his  account,  not  having  been  sent  by  any  statesman  or 
member  of  Parliament,  and  with  no  wish  for  any  reward, 
but  solely  and  only  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  be  useful  to 
his  grace.  Laud  "  wondred  what  the  matter  should  be." 
Presently  his  tall  visitor  "  drew  a  Paper  out  of  his  Pocket  " 
and  gave  it  him  to  read.  It  contained  four  articles  drawn 
up  against  him,  all  of  them,  he  says,  "touching  my  near 
Conversation  with  Priests,  and  my  endeavour  by  them  to 
subvert  Religion  in  England?  Mr  Hunt  told  him  that  they 
had  not  yet  been  presented  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
but  probably  soon  would  be.  They  were  signed  "by  one 
Willoughby?  who,  Mr  Hunt  said,  "was  a  Priest,  but  now 
turned."  Laud  asked  Mr  Hunt  what  service  he  hoped  to 
render  him  by  showing  him  this  paper.  Mr  Hunt  replied 
that  he  left  the  archbishop  to  consider  that  for  himself,  and 
again  repeated  his  statement  that  his  motives  were  purely 
disinterested.  At  this  Laud  grew  angry,  and  told  him  that 
Willoughby  "was  a  Villain  to  subscribe  such  a  paper,"  and 
that  he  might  present  it  to  the  Parliament  whenever  he  pleased. 


*'•]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  401 

Then,  he  tells  us,1  "  I  left  him  and  his  Paper,  and  returned  to 
Mr  Hide  into  my  Bed-Chamber.  There  I  told  him,  and  my 
Servant  Mr  Richard  Cobb,  all  that  passed :  And  they  were 
glad  I  gave  him  so  short  and  so  harsh  an  Answer,  and  did 
think  as  I  my  self  did,  that  it  was  a  Plot  to  intrap  me.  After 
they  were  gone,  I  sat  thinking  with  my  self,  and  was  very 
Sorry  that  my  Indignation  at  this  base  Villany  had  made 
me  so  hasty  to  send  Hunt  away,  and  that  I  did  not  desire 
Mr  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower  to  seize  on  him,  till  he  brought 
forth  this  Willoughby.  I  am  since  informed,  that  this  Hunt 
is  a  Gentleman  that  hath  spent  all  or  most  of  his  Means  ; 
and  I  verily  believe  this  was  a  Plot  between  him  and  Wil- 
longhby  to  draw  Money  from  me  to  conceal  the  Articles ;  in 
which  way  had  I  complyed  with  him,  I  had  utterly  undone 
my  self." 

A  meaner  trick  to  try  to  extort  money  from  the  poor  old 
man,  in  his  trouble,  could  hardly  be  imagined. 

A  fortnight  later,  a  physical  misfortune  befell  him.  A 
tendon  of  his  right  leg  "  brake  asunder,"  as  he  was  walking 
up  and  down  a  large  room,  of  which  he  had  the  use,  before 
he  went  to  dinner.  He  was  walking  at  the  time  "  upon  plain 
Boards,  and  had  no  uneven  step  nor  slip,  not  so  much  as  a 
turning  of"  his  "Foot  aside  upon  any  chink.  This  Tendon, 
or  part  of  the  main  Sinew  above"  his  "Heel,  brake  just  in 
the  same  Place  where  "  he  "  had  unhappily  broken  it  before," 
fourteen  years  earlier.  The  consequent  "  Lameness  con 
tinued  two  whole  Months,  before  "  he  "  was  able  to  go  down 
Stairs  to  take  any  Air  to  refresh"  himself;  and  it  was  long 
after  even  that  date  that  he  "  received  any  competent  Measure 
of  Strength." 

While  he  was  laid  up,  he  was  worried  by  orders  from  the 
Parliament  as  to  the  disposal  of  his  preferments.  In  being 
forced  to  submit,  he  felt  that  he  was  not  only  yielding  a 
trust,  but  that  his  power  was  being  taken  away  from  him  in 
every  sense. 

At  last  the  poor  lame  prisoner  thought  he  would  try 
to  go  to  church.  "  I  made  a  shift  between  my  Man  and  my 

1 "  iiist.,"  p.  190. 

2    C 


402  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [S?68641' 

Staff,"  he  says,1  "to  go  to  Church.  There  preached  one  Mr 
Jostin?*  His  Text,  Judg.  5,  23,  Curse  ye  Meroz,  &c.  To 
pass  over  what  was  strangely  Evil  throughout  his  Sermon, 
his  Personal  Abuse  of  me  was  so  foul  and  so  palpable,  that 
Women  and  Boys  stood  up  in  the  Church,  to  see  how  I 
could  bear  it :  And  this  was  my  first  Welcome  into  the 
Church,  after  my  long  Lameness."  He  then  says  that  he 
bore  it  very  well,  adding  "  God  forgive  them." 

After  this  he,  personally,  "  had  some  quietness  "  ;  but  none 
the  less  "  all  things  grew  higher  and  higher  between  the  King 
and  the  Parliament,  to  the  great  Dammage  and  Distraction 
of  the  Kingdom."  Laud  might  well  say  this.  The  king  and 
his  Parliament  were,  in  fact,  actually  at  war  ;  while  he  "  had 
some  quietness,"  the  royalist  and  parliamentary  troops  were 
in  bloody  conflict,  and  at  least  a  thousand  men  were  laid 
dead  at  the  single  battle  of  Edge  Hill. 

It  was  not  so  long  since  Charles  had  reprimanded  Laud  for 
endeavouring  to  propitiate  the  Puritans  by  an  exhibition  of 
stern  measures  upon  the  Catholics  ;  but  in  the  early  part  of 
this  ill-fated  civil  war,  the  king  paraded  his  own  Protestantism 
by  ordering  two  priests  to  be  put  to  death  at  Tyburn  and  a 
couple  more  at  York.3  But  I  am  writing  a  life  of  Laud,  and 
not  a  history  of  England  ;  so  I  cannot  follow  Charles  I.  in 
his  battles  or  describe  his  policy,  further  than  it  relates, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  subject  of  my  memoir. 

The  clash  of  arms  in  the  field  does  not  seem  to  have 
affected  Laud  so  much  as  the  seizure  of  his  own  arms  at 
Lambeth  palace  by  "  Captain  Royden  and  his  Company,  by 
Order  of  Parliament''  on  the  ipth  of  August.  They  arrived 
at  Lambeth  about  "  seven  of  the  Clock  in  the  Evening," 
"  stayed  there  all  Night,  and  searched  every  Room,  and 
where  any  Key  was  not  ready,  brake  open  Doors  :  And  the 
next  Morning  they  carried  my  Arms  away  in  Carts  to  Guild- 
Hall,  London  ;  and  I  was  sufficiently  abused  all  the  way  by 
the  People,  as  my  Arms  passed.  They  gave  out  in  London, 
there  were  Arms  for  Ten  Thousand  Men  ;  whereas  there  was 
not  enough  for  Two  Hundred.  And  the  Arms  I  bought  of 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  196.  2  Jocelin.  3  Lingard,  vol.   viii.  chap.  i. 


']  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  403 

my  Predecessor's  Executors ;  only  some  I  was  forced  to 
mend,  the  Fashion  of  Arms  being  changed." 

Within  three  months  another  unwelcome  visit  was  paid  to 
"my  House  at  Lambeth''  The  callers  were  two  members  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  this  time,  accompanied  by  some 
musketeers.  They  searched,  not  for  weapons,  but  "  for 
Mony,"  and  walked  off  with  £78,  which  they  took  from  the 
archbishop's  official  receiver,  stating  that  it  was  required  "  for 
the  Maintenance  of  t/ie  King's  children.  God  of  his  Mercy 
look  favourably  upon  the  King,  and  bless  his  Children  from 
needing  any  such  poor  Maintenance." 

Once  again,  before  the  year  was  out,  visitors  arrived  at 
"  Lambeth-House,"  in  the  shape  of  "  Souldiers,"  who,  as 
Oxford  undergraduates  would  term  it,  "  made  hay  "  in  Laud's 
chapel,  and  u  offer'd  violence  to  the  Organ."  Just  before 
Christmas,  says  Heylin  i1 — "  LeigJiton  the  Schismatick,  who 
had  before  been  sentenced  in  the  Star-Chamber  for  his 
libellous  and  seditious  Pamphlets,  came  with  an  Order  from  " 
the  Commons  "  to  dispossess  the  Souldiers  of  their  quarters 
there,  and  turn  his  house  into  a  Prison." 

I  must  return  now  to  September,  when,  says  Laud,2  "  tJie 
Bishops  were  voted  down  in  the  House  of  Commons. " 
"  And  that  Night  there  was  great  Ringing,"  which  he  himself 
could  not  have  failed  to  hear  from  his  chambers  in  the  Tower, 
"  and  Bonfires  in  the  City  ;  which  I  conceive  was  cunningly 
ordered  to  be  done  by  Alderman  Pennington,  the  new  Lord 
Mayor,  chosen  in  the  room  of  Sir  Richard  Gurney,  who  was 
then  in  the  Toiuer." 

On  the  tenth  of  the  same  month,  the  bishops  were  "  Voted 
down  "  by  the  Lords  also  ;  whereupon  Laud  writes  : — "  So  it 
seems  I  must  live  to  see  my  Calling  fall  before  me."  That 
he  would  leave  the  Tower  "  by  any  other  door  than  the  door 
of  death," :5  he  had  long  ceased  to  hope  ;  but  to  see  the 
Anglican  episcopacy  appear  to  fall  before  him  was  a  bitter 
sorrow. 

In  October  it  was  resolved  "  That  all  Rents  and  Profits  of 
all  Arch- Bishops,  Bishops ',  Deans  and  Chapters,  and  other  De- 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  467.  -  "  Hist.,"  p.  196.          3  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  467. 


404  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  tl^o.643' 

linquents,  should  be  Sequestered  for  the  Use  and  Service 
of  the  Common -Wealth."  There  was  something  specially 
cutting  in  the  words  "  and  other  Delinquents."  By  this 
ordinance  Laud  says:  —  "All  the  Profits  of  my  Arch- 
Bishoprick  were  taken  away  from  me,  and  not  one  Penny 
allowed  me  for  Maintenance." 

A  further  discomfort  came,  in  a  few  days,  in  the  form  of  an 
order  that  no  prisoner  in  the  Tower  should  keep  more  than 
two  servants,  or  speak  to  anyone,  except  in  the  presence  of  a 
warder.  He  "  humbly  besought  the  Lords"  on  account  of 
his  age  and  infirmities,  to  allow  him  to  have  a  cook  and  a 
butler,  in  addition  to  two  servants  who  attended  him  in  his 
rooms — rather  a  liberal  allowance,  one  might  suppose,  for  a 
prisoner  ;  but  it  was  granted. 

Ill-tidings  now  followed  each  other  rapidly.  News  came 
that  his  own  "  Cathedral  Church  of  Canterbury  was  grossly 
Prophaned  ;  yet  far  worse  afterward." 

In  January  1643,  "the  ^'//passed  in  the  Lords  House  for 
abolishing  of  Episcopacy.  God  be  merciful  to  this  sinking 
Church."  Even  a  little  revenge  in  the  midst  of  such  troubles 
was  sweet.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Lord  Brook,  when 
some  one  had  praised  Laud  for  restoring  St  Paul's  Cathedral, 
had  said  he  hoped  to  live  to  see  the  time  when  one  stone  of 
it  should  not  be  left  standing  upon  another.  He  was  a  bitter 
enemy  to  the  Church,  and  to  the  very  name  of  episcopacy. 
Well,  this  wicked  man,  to  Laud's  evident  satisfaction,  met 
with  his  deserts.  He  was  just  going  to  order  an  attack  on 
the  close  of  Lichfield  Cathedral,  and  was  "  taking  view  of  the 
place,  from  a  Window  in  a  House  opposite  to  the  Close"  with 
the  "Bever"  of  his  helmet  raised,  to  get  a  better  view,  and 
naturally  thinking  "  that  a  Musket  at  such  a  distance  could 
have  done  him  but  little  harm  ;  yet  was  he  Shot  in  the  left 
Eye,  and  killed  Dead  in  the  place  without  speaking  one 
word."  He  adds  with  gusto: — "This  great  Enemy  to 
Cathedral- Churches  died  thus  fearfully  in  the  Assault  of  a 
Cathedral.  A  fearful  manner  of  Death  in  such  a  Quarrel ! " 
And  then,  recalling  Lord  Brook's  after-dinner  remark  about 
himself  and  St  Paul's  Cathedral,  he  says  :  — "  That  Church 


e  of  Archbishop  Laud.  405 

stands  yet,  and  that  Eye  is  put  out  that  hoped  to  see  the 
Ruins  of  it." 

A  stranger  to  Laud  came  to  the  Tower  one  day  and  told 
him  a  most  alarming  piece  of  gossip — namely,  that  he  was 
to  be  sent  to  New  England.  This  would  indeed  have  been 
falling  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire.  Considering  the 
gentle  manner  in  which  the  New-Englanders  had  treated  the 
Quakers — women  as  well  as  men — what  would  they  not  have 
done  to  Laud,  who  was  reputed  among  them  to  have  been 
the  primary  cause  of  their  exile  and  all  their  woes  ?  A  couple 
of  months  after  he  had  heard  this  rumour,  "  it  was  moved  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  to  send"  Laud  "to  New  England; 
but  it  was  rejected.  The  Plot  was  laid  by  Peters,  Wells,  and 
others  of  that  Crew,  that  so  they  might  insult  over"1  him. 

A  petty  annoyance  was  the  seizure  of  his  furniture  and 
other  effects  at  Lambeth,  and  their  public  sale.  Although 
the  sum  they  realised  in  no  way  affected  him,  it  appears  to 
have  mortified  him  to  hear  that  they  were  sold  "  scarce  at  a 
third  of  their  worth."  A  more  serious  matter  to  his  own 
personal  comfort  was  an  order  issued  on  the  very  day  of 
what  would  now  be  called  the  sale  of  the  "  Laud  Collection," 
to  the  effect  that  he  was  not  to  go  out  of  his  chambers  with 
out  his  "  Keeper,  so  much  as  to  take  the  Air."  He  sarcasti 
cally  calls  the  first  of  these  annoyances  "  an  Exemplary  piece 
of  Justice,"  the  other  "  of  Mercy." 

"  Much  about  this  time,"  he  received  another  letter  from 
his  Majesty.  Letters  from  Charles  were  no  longer  written  in 
a  tone  of  affectionate  banter.  The  missive  in  question  re 
quired  him  "  that  as  oft  as  any  Benefice  or  other  Spiritual 
Promotion  whatsoever  should  fall  void  in "  his  gift,  he 
"  should  dispose  it  only  to  such  as  his  Majesty  should  name 
unto  him."  In  old  days,  his  Majesty  used  to  ask  him,  on  the 
contrary,  to  name  clergymen  for  the  benefices  and  spiritual 
preferments,  including  bishoprics,  in  the  royal  gift ;  but,  at 
any  rate,  by  this  letter  the  king  was  trying  to  get  the  better 
of  the  Parliament,  which  would  be  some  comfort  to  Laud  ; 
for  the  letter  proceeded  to  order  that  "  if  any  Command  lay 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  203. 


406  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

otherwise  upon  "  Laud  "  from  either,  or  both  Houses  of  Parlia 
ment"  he  "  should  then  let  them  fall  into  Lapse,  that "  the 
king  "  might  dispose  of  them  to  men  of  worth." 

There  were  suspicions,  as  Laud  points  out  a  little  later,  that 
the  Parliament  knew  this  letter  had  been  written  ;  and  a  few 
days  after  he  had  received  it,  an  "Ordinance  of  both  Houses" 
of  Parliament  was  handed  to  him  requiring  to  "  give  no 
benefice,  or  Spiritual  Promotion  now  void,  or  to  be  void  at 
any  time  before  "  his  "  Trial,  but  with  leave  and  Order  of  both 
Houses  of  Parliament" 

On  the  3  ist  of  May  1643,  "  A  Search  came  betimes  in  the 
Morning  into  the  Tower  upon  all  the  Prisoners,  for  Letters 
and  other  Papers."  Laud  thought  that  the  real  object  of  this 
search  was  for  his  own  papers,  and  that  the  Commons 
specially  aimed  at  finding  out  whether  Laud  had  received 
any  letter  about  the  disposal  of  his  preferments  from  King 
Charles.  He  was  the  more  convinced  that  the  search  was 
intended  for  himself,  personally,  by  learning  that  "  all  other 
Prisoners  had  their  Papers  re-delivered  them  before  the 
Searchers  went  from  the  Tower"-,  whereas  his  own  were 
"  carried  to  the  Committee" 

So  far  as  Laud  was  concerned,  his  "  implacable  Enemy,  Mr 
Pryn>  was  picked  out  (as  a  Man  whose  Malice  might  be 
trusted)  to  make  the  search  upon "  him.  "  And  he  did  it 
exactly." 

No  sooner  were  the  gates  of  the  Tower  opened  in  the 
morning,  than  the  search-party  entered  them.  Prynne,  armed 
with  his  search-warrant,  proceeded  at  once  to  Laud's  rooms, 
and  commanded  the  warder  in  charge  of  them  to  open  the 
doors.  Leaving  two  musketeers  beside  the  doorway,  as 
"  centinels,"  he  marched  upstairs  "  with  three  other,  which 
had  their  Muskets  ready  cocked." 

Laud  was  in  bed,  and  he  must  have  been  very  much 
astonished  when  his  door  was  thrown  open  and  his  "  implac 
able  Enemy,  Mr  Pryn"  walked  into  the  room  with  his  three 
musketeers.  Perhaps  he  may  have  fancied  that  one  of  his 
most  vivid,  unpleasant,  and  ominous  dreams  was  upon  him. 
Presently,  he  says,  he  thought  upon  his  "  Blessed  Saviour, 


e  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  407 


when  Judas  led  in  the  Swords  and  Staves  about  him." 
Judas,  in  this  case,  however,  showed  no  inclination  to  offer  a 
kiss  ;  there  was  no  question  whatever  of  betrayal  ;  nor  could 
Prynne's  worst  enemy  accuse  him  of  ever  having  been  one 
of  Laud's  disciples  ;  so,  altogether,  the  comparison  was  not 
very  apt. 

I  will  give  the  description  of  the  interview  in  Laud's  own 
words.1  "  Mr  Pryn,  seeing  me  safe  in  Bed,  falls  first  to  my 
Pockets  to  rifle  them  ;  and  by  that  time  my  two  Servants 
came  running  in,  half  ready.  I  demanded  the  sight  of  his 
Warrant  ;  he  shewed  it  me,  and  therein  was  Expressed,  that 
he  should  search  my  Pockets.  The  Warrant  came  from  the 
Close  Committee,  and  the  Hands  that  were  to  it,  were  these. 
E.  Manchester,  W.  Saye  and  Scale,  Wharton,  H.  Vane,  Gilbert 
Gerard,  and  John  Pirn.  Did  they  remember  when  they  gave 
this  Warrant,  how  odious  it  was  to  Parliaments,  and  some  of 
themselves,  to  have  the  Pockets  of  Men  Searched  ?  "  For  the 
moment  he  appears  to  have  forgotten  the  complaisancy  with 
which  he  heard  of  the  rifling  of  the  pockets  of  an  Oxford 
undergraduate,  whom  he  had  ordered  to  be  watched  on 
account  of  his  Popish  inclinations.  "  When  my  Pockets  had 
been  sufficiently  ransacked,  I  rose  and  got  my  Cloathes  about 
me,  and  so  half  ready,  with  my  Gown  upon  my  Shoulders,  ht. 
held  me  in  the  Search  till  past  Nine  of  the  Clock  in  the 
Morning.  He  took  from  me  Twenty  and  One  Bundles  of 
Papers,  which  I  had  prepared  for  my  Defence  ;  and  the  two 
Letters  before  named,  which  came  to  me  from  his  Gracious 
Majesty  about  Chartliam  and  my  other  Benefices  ;  the 
Scottish  Service-Book,  with  such  Directions  as  accompanied 
it  ;  a  little  Book,  or  Diary^  containing  all  the  Occurrences  of 
my  Life  ;  and  my  Book  of  Private  Devotions  ;  both  these  last 
written  through  with  my  own  Hand.  Nor  could  I  get  him  to 
leave  this  last  ;  but  he  must  needs  see  what  passed  between 
God  and  me  :  A  thing,  I  think,  scarce  ever  offer'd  to  any 
Christian.  The  last  place  which  he  rifled,  was  a  Trunk  which 
stood  by  my  Bed-side.  In  that  he  found  nothing,  but  about 
Forty  Pound  in  Money  for  my  necessary  Expences  (which  he 
1  "  Hist.,"  p.  205. 


408  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

meddled  not  with),  and  a  Bundle  of  some  Gloves.  This 
Bundle  he  was  so  careful  to  open,  as  that  he  caused  each 
Glove  to  be  looked  into ;  upon  this  I  tendered  him  one  pair 
of  the  Gloves  ;  which  he  refusing,  I  told  him  he  might  take 
them,  and  fear  no  Bribe,  for  he  had  already  done  me  all  the 
Mischief  he  could,  and  I  asked  no  Favour  of  him :  So  he 
thanked  me,  took  the  Gloves,  bound  up  my  Papers,  left  two 
Centinels  at  my  Door  (which  were  not  dismissed  till  the  next 
Day  Noon),  and  went  his  way."  Finally,  Laud,  as  usual  on 
such  occasions,  expresses  his  thankfulness  for  the  patience 
which  God  gave  him  during  this  trying  scene ;  as  usual,  too, 
it  reads  rather  like  a  veiled  piece  of  self-praise. 

It  was  quite  a  relief  to  him  when  the  Parliament  formally 
sequestrated  his  archbishopric  ;  for  it  had  gone  sorely  against 
his  conscience  to  be  forced  by  the  Commons  to  appoint  men, 
whom  he  considered  unfit  and  unworthy,  to  benefices  which 
fell  to  his  disposal ;  whereas  now  his  responsibility  entirely 
ceased. 

He  had  to  listen  to  another  very  disagreeable  sermon  at 
church,  in  the  Tower,  from  a  preacher  whose  name  he  could 
not  learn.  "  In  his  Sermon,"  says  he,  "  after  he  had  liberally 
railed  on  me,  he  told  the  Auditory,  that  Mr  Pryn  had  found 
a  Book  in  my  Pocket,  which  would  discover  great  things." 
"  This  is  Zealous  Preaching  !  God  forgive  their  Malice." 

In  the  same  month,  Laud  was  greatly  scandalized  by  the 
publication  of  the  names  of  the  "  Synodical  Men,"  who  were 
to  sit  in  committee  for  the  reformation  of  the  Anglican 
Church  and  its  liturgy.  They  were  not  at  all  men  to  his  taste 
— "  A  great,  if  not  the  greater  part  of  them,  Brownists,  or  In 
dependents,  or  New-England-Ministers,  if  not  worse,  or  at  the 
best  refractory  Persons  to  the  Doctrine  or  Discipline,  or  both, 
of  the  Church  of  England  Established  by  Law,  and  now 
brought  to  Reform  it.  An  excellent  Conclave  !  But  I  pray 
God,  that  befal  not  them,  which  Tully  observes  fell  upon 
Epicurus,  Si  qua  corrigere  voluit,  deteriora  fecit ;  He  made 
every  thing  worse  that  he  went  about  to  mend.  I  shall  for 
my  part  never  deny,  but  that  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England  may  be  better ;  but  I  am  sure  withal  it  may  easily 


Srtca7ol643']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  409 

be  made  worse."  Then  he  says  that  this  Synod  should  re 
member  that  the  authorised  Convocation  of  English  prelates 
and  clergy  still  existed,  and  that  there  could  not  be  two 
lawful  ecclesiastical  Synods  in  the  same  nation  and  place  at 
the  same  time.  "  Belike  we  shall  fall  to  it  in  the  Donatists 
way  :  They  set  up  Altare  contra  Alt  are  in  Africk;  and  these 
will  set  up  Synodum  contra  Synodum  in  England''  It  may 
be  worth  noticing  that  both  Laud's  and  Newman's  minds 
were  directed  to  the  Donatist  schism  ;  but  with  different 
consequences. 

Not  very  long  before  this  declamation  against  the  new 
liturgy- reformers  was  written,  Laud  had  been  engaged  in 
writing  a  defence  of  his  own  attempt  at  liturgy-making,  and 
this  seems  a  proper  time  to  notice  it.  While  in  the  Tower, 
he  had  been  considering  the  accusations  lodged  against  him 
for  his  share  in  framing  the  Scottish  Prayer-Book.  Without 
going  into  this  matter  at  any  length,  or  following  him  into 
wearisome  details  and  quibbles,  I  think  it  may  be  interesting 
to  give  some  expressions  of  his  which  bear  upon  the  doctrine 
he  held  on  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Eucharist.1 

It  had  been  objected  that  the  words  ordered  in  the  prayer 
of  consecration,  in  the  liturgy  for  Scotland,  "  that  they  may 
be  unto  us  the  Body  and  Blood  of  thy  most  dearly  beloved 
Son,"  occurred  also  in  the  Roman  Missal.  Laud  replied  that 
he  could  wish  with  all  his  heart  that  the  words  "ut  fiant 
nobis  "  "  were  the  worst  Error  in  the  Mass''  For,  says  he, 
the  words  "  that  they  may  be  unto  us,  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ,"  imply  that  the  consecrated  elements  "are  to  us, 
but  are  not  Transubstantiated  in  themselves,  into  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  nor  that  there  is  any  Corporal  Presence,  in, 
or  under  the  Elements''  And  again,  "  The  true  Sense,  so  well 
signified  and  expressed,  that  the  words  cannot  well  be  under 
stood  otherwise,  than  to  imply  not  the  Corporal  Substance, 
but  the  Real,  and  yet  the  Spiritual  use  of  them."  He 
evidently  believed  that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  were 
present  to  the  receiver  of  the  elements ;  but  not  in  the 
elements  themselves ;  a  very  common,  perhaps  the  most 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  121. 


4io  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

usual,  Anglican  theory,  but  not  what  would  be  considered  in 
these  days  a  very  "  high "  one.  This  opinion  of  his  was 
further  confirmed  in  the  same  manuscript,  when  he  wrote  l : — 
"  They  say  there  are,  which  teach  them,  that  Christ  is  received 
in  the  Sacrament  Corporaliter,  both  Objective,  and  Subjective. 
For  this  Opinion,  be  it  whose  it  will,  I  for  my  part  do  utterly 
condemn  it,  as  grosly  Superstitious."  On  page  124,  he  also 
condemns  the  theory,  put  forward  now  by  many  advanced 
High-Churchmen,  that  there  is  any  sacrifice  in  the  eucharist, 
except  "  the  Sacrifice  of  Praise."  It  is  a  "  Commemoration 
and  a  Representation  of  that  great  Sacrifice  offered  up  by 
Christ  himself:  As  Bishop  Jewel  very  Learnedly,  and  fully 
acknowledges."  The  name  of  Bellarmine,  the  well-known 
Catholic  controversialist,  who  had  died  only  a  few  years 
earlier,  having  been  mentioned,  Laud  says  : — "  If  Bellarmin 
go  farther  than  this  " — as  of  course  he  knew  well  enough  that 
he  did — "he  is  Erroneous."  His  feelings  as  to  the  eucharist 
are  obviously  implied  again  when,  in  contrasting  the  Catholic 
with  the  Anglican  liturgy,2  he  says  : — "  'Tis  one  thing  to  Offer 
us  his  Body,  and  another  to  Offer  up  the  Memorial  of  his 
Body." 

All  that  Laud  would  admit,  in  respect  to  the  Real  Pre 
sence,  was  that  the  receiver  was  made  a  spiritual  partaker  of 
Christ's  body  and  blood.  Thus  he  writes  to  Fisher  3  of  "  the 
faith  of  the  church  of  England,  that  in  the  most  blessed  sacra 
ment  the  worthy  receiver  is  by  his  faith  made  spiritually  par 
taker  of  the  true  and  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ  truly,  and 
really,  and  of  all  the  benefits  of  his  passion.  Your  Roman 
Catholics  add  a  manner  of  this  his  presence,  transubstantia- 
tion,  which  many  deny  ;  and  the  Lutherans  a  manner  of  this 
presence,  consubstantiation,  which  more  deny."  Referring  to 
this  passage,  his  Jesuit  critic,  T.  C.,  not  unfairly,  I  think, 
says  4  : — "  He  understands  such  a  belief  of  the  English  Pro 
testants  real  presence,  as  carries  with  it  an  express  denial  both 
of  Transubstantiation  and  Consubstantiation  in  the  Sacra 
ment."  I  write  under  correction  ;  but  I  imagine  that  this 

aP.  123.  2  p.  115. 

3  "  Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford  ed.,  p.  241.     4  "  Lawd's  Labyrinth,"  p.  308. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  4 1 1 

would  be  considered  rather  low  eucharistic  teaching  by 
High-Churchmen  of  the  present  day. 

In  forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  Laud's  views 
from  a  modern  High-Church  standpoint,  it  is  well  to  bear  in 
mind  his  doctrine  on  the  question  of  intention.  Among 
Catholics  it  is  held  that  three  things  are  necessary  for  the 
validity  of  a  sacrament,  namely,  the  matter,  the  form,  and 
the  intention,  and  I  imagine  that  Anglicans  of  the  High- 
Church  school  would  say  as  much,  although  they  might  use 
those  terms  with  a  more  or  less  modified  meaning ;  but 
Laud  distinctly  denies  that  "  this  intention  of  either  bishop 
or  priest "  is  "  of  absolute  necessity  to  the  essence  of  a 
sacrament,  so  as  to  make  void  the  gracious  institution  of 
Christ."1 

On  the  preceding  page  he  says  : — "Your  council  of  Flor 
ence  had  told  us,  that  three  things  are  necessary  to  every 
sacrament  ;  the  matter,  the  form  of  the  sacrament,  and  the 
intention  of  the  priest  which  administers  it,  that  he  intends  to 
do  as  the  church  doth.  Your  council  of  Trent  confirms  it 
for  the  intention  of  the  priest."  He  is  treating  of  the  possi 
bility  of  a  pope's  not  being  validly  ordained  ;  but  exactly  the 
same  argument  would  apply  to  every  sacrament.  Perhaps 
he  may  have  felt  the  necessity  of  discarding  the  doctrine  of 
intention,  owing  to  the  certainty  that  some  of  the  early 
bishops  of  the  Anglican  establishment  had  no  intention  of 
ordaining  priests,  or  consecrating  bishops,  and  consequently 
that,  if  intention  were  necessary,  at  least  a  large  number  of 
Anglican  ordinations  must  be  invalid.  In  support  of  his 
theory  of  the  needlessness  of  intention,  he  quotes  a  Neapo 
litan  bishop  ;  but  the  author  ofLawd's  Labyrinth  proves 2  that 
this  bishop,  Cardinal  Catharinus,  meant  nothing  of  the  kind. 
Neither  the  matter  nor  the  form  were  very  certain  in  some  of 
the  early  Anglican  consecrations  of  bishops,  and  little  seemed 
left  to  give  the  slightest  colour  of  a  sacrament  to  them  when 
Laud  calmly  repudiated  the  value  of  intention,  and  abso 
lutely  taunted  Fisher  about  the  "  error "  held  by  his  Church, 
in  maintaining  that  "  a  sacrament  is  not  perfectly  given,  if  he 

1  "Conf.  with  Fisher,"  Oxford  ed.,  p.  229.  2  P.  285. 


412  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Ir7o.643' 

that  administers  it  have  not  intentionem  faciendi  quod  facit 
ecclesia,  an  intention  to  do  that  which  the  church  doth  by 
sacraments." 

Should  it,  however,  turn  out  that  modern  High-Anglicans 
are  of  one  mind  with  Laud  on  this  question,  I  would  humbly 
apologise  for  misrepresenting  them. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

MR  PRYNNE  was  not  long  in  producing  before  the  world  one 
of  the  treasures  he  discovered  among  the  papers  which  he  had 
laid  hands  upon  in  Laud's  rooms  at  the  Tower.  It  appeared 
in  the  form  of  a  tract,  bearing  on  its  title  page  the  words, 
"  It  is  ordered  by  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  Parliament,  concerning  Printing,  this  first  day  of  August, 
1643.  That  this  Book,  Intituled  ROME's  MASTER 
PIECE,  be  forthwith  Printed  by  Michael  Sparke,  Senior." 
The  full  title  was  "Rome's  Master-Piece:  or,  The  Grand 
Conspiracy  of  the  Pope  and  his  Jesuited  Instruments,  To 
Extirpate  the  Protestant  Religion,  Re-establish  Popery,  Sub 
vert  Laws,  Liberties,  Peace,  Parliaments ;  By  Kindling  a 
Civil  War  in  Scotland,  and  all  his  Majesty's  Realms,  and  to 
Poison  the  King  himself,  in  case  he  Comply  not  with  them 
in  these  their  execrable  Designs."  This  plot  was  said  to 
have  been  revealed  to  Andreas  ab  Habernfield  by  an  apostate 
priest,  who  "  having  known  the  vanities  of  the  Pontifician 
Religion,"  "  felt  his  conscience  to  be  burdened,"  and  appears 
to  have  relieved  it  by  telling  lies  to  the  Protestants.  "  This 
good  man  "  having  told  his  story  to  Habernfield,  who  is  said 
to  have  been  a  chaplain  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  Habern 
field  repeated  it  to  Sir  William  Boswell,  English  Minister  at 
the  Hague ;  Boswell  then  wrote  about  it  to  Laud,  and  Laud 
told  King  Charles.  Prynne's  object  in  getting  this  corre 
spondence  published  was  to  show  that  although  several 
well-known  characters  were  named  as  concerned  in  the  plot, 
namely,  the  Duchess  of  Buckingham,  Lady  Arundel  ("a 
strenuous  she-champion  of  the  Popish  Religion "),  Lady 
Newport,  Montague,  Digby,  Winter,  Lord  Arundel,  Winde- 
bank  ("  a  most  fierce  Papist "),  and  Porter,  the  Groom  of  the 

413 


4 1 4  Life  of  A  r Mis  hop  Laud.  [£rt?a7o.643' 

Bed-Chamber,   neither  Laud  nor  the  king  instituted  "  any 
Prosecution  of  the  Conspirators." 

The  greater  part  of  the  correspondence  printed  in  this 
pamphlet  took  place  in  1640,  and  Habernfield's  letters  read 
very  like  hoaxes.  They  state  "  that  a  certain  Society  hath 
conspired,  which  attempts  the  Death  of  the  King  (and  Lord 
Archbishop),  and  Convulsion  of  the  whole  Realm."  Habern- 
field  wrote  to  Laud  that  when  the  "  good  man,"  i.e.,  the 
apostate  priest,  "related  to  me  the  Factions  of  the  Jesuits, 
with  which  the  whole  Earthly  World  was  assaulted,"  "  my 
Bowels  were  contracted  together,  my  Loyns  trembled  with 
horrour,  that  a  pernicious  Gulf  should  be  prepared  for  so 
many  thousands  of  Souls."  As  to  Laud  himself,  he  wrote : 
— "  How  many  Rocks,  how  many  Scillas,  how  many  dis 
pleased  Charibdes  appear  before  your  Grace,  in  what  a 
dangerous  Sea  the  Cockboat  of  your  Grace's  Life,  next  to 
Shipwrack,  is  tossed,  your  self  may  judge  ;  the  Fore-deck  of 
the  Ship  is  speedily  to  be  driven  to  the  Harbour."  He  signs 
himself,  not  at  all  inaptly,  "Your  Grace's  most  Observant, 
and  most  Officious  Andrew  Habernfield" 

Laud  wrote  an  account  of  the  matter  to  Charles,  saying : 
— "  The  Business  (if  it  be)  is  extream  foul.  The  discovery 
thus  by  God's  Providence  offered,  seems  fair."  And  he  pro 
fesses  that  "  with  the  labour  or  indignation  "  produced  by  it, 
he  "  fell  into  an  extream  faint  Sweat."  Judging,  however, 
from  the  fact  that  neither  the  archbishop  nor  the  king  pro 
ceeded  to  take  any  steps  against  the  alleged  conspirators,  it 
would  seem  that,  on  their  calmer  judgment,  both  of  them 
came  to  regard  the  affair  in  the  light  of  a  mare's  nest  and 
certainly  there  is  not  a  grain  of  evidence  in  Habernfield's 
letters  in  support  of  his  assertions.  Even  in  his  letters  to 
the  king,  Laud  appears  to  have  had  some  doubts  of  the 
authenticity  of  the  story.  In  asking  Charles  to  keep  the 
affair  secret  for  the  present,  he  says  : — "  This  Information 
is  either  true,  or  there  is  some  mistake  in  it :  If  it  be  true, 
the  persons  which  make  the  discovery,  will  deserve  Thanks 
and  Reward  ;  if  there  should  be  any  mistake  in  it,  your 
Majesty  can  lose  nothing  but  a  little  silence." 


arcana.]  L ife  Of  A rckbishop  Laud.  4 1 5 

As  Charles  and  Laud  were,  according  to  Habernfield,  the 
chief  people  endangered,  one  would  have  thought  that  the 
publication  of  the  correspondence  by  their  enemies  would 
have  only  proved  to  the  nation  that  neither  of  them  had 
shown  any  inclination,  or  favour,  to  Popery.  The  object  of 
the  Commons,  however,  may  have  been  to  reveal  Habern- 
field's  statement  that  Con  had  been  informally  received  as  a 
Papal  Legate  in  London.1 

Laud  writes 2  that  the  publishing  of  the  pamphlet  was  "  to 
drive  the  People  into  headlong  mischief." 

It  is  difficult,  if  possible,  to  believe  that  designs  were  ever 
framed  by  any  of  the  people  named  in  the  "  Master-piece  " 
against  the  persons  of  either  Charles  or  Laud  ;  that  they 
were  entertained  by  either  the  Pope  or  Cardinal  Barberini, 
who  were  also  stated  to  be  in  the  plot,  is  much  more  unlikely, 
nor  is  it  probable  that  any  plot  to  murder  either  Laud  or 
Charles  was  ever  contemplated  by  even  a  small  party  of 
English  Catholics.  Without  doubt  a  "  Plot  to  Extirpate  the 
Protestant  Religion,"  and  to  "  Re-establish  Popery,"  existed, 
as  it  exists  now,  in  exactly  the  same  sense  that  a  plot  to 
extirpate  one  religion  and  establish  another  exists  wherever, 
and  whenever,  missionaries  go  to  a  country  to  introduce 
their  own  religion  and  substitute  it  for  the  religion  held  by 
the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  country. 

As  to  Laud's  relations  with  Con,  further  evidence  is  now 
available.  Con  wrote  to  Rome : — "  Canterbury  told  the 
Queen  he  could  not  visit  me  without  raising  a  storm."  "  Can 
terbury  spoke  of  me,  saying  I  was  bitter  because  he  could 
not  visit  me."  "  Canterbury  urged  the  King  to  renew  edicts 
against  the  Queen's  chapels  and  to  stop  the  growth  of  Popery. 
Was  only  way  of  quieting  the  affairs  in  Scotland  to  make 
laws  against  the  Catholics."  "Canterbury  is  following  his 
old  artifices.  He  shows  himself  the  head  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  and  is  as  much  a  Puritan  as  a  Catholic.  In  London 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  585.  "  Master  Cuneus  did  at  that  time  enjoy  the  Office  of  the 
Pope's  Legal."  Again,  "Cuneus  smelling  from  the  Archbishop,  most  trusty  to 
the  King,  that  the  King's  mind  was  wholly  pendulous  (or  doubtful),  &c." 

2/^.,  p.  209. 


4i6  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Stca7ol643' 

many  reports  are  spread  of  the  negotiations  between  Canter 
bury  and  myself;  but  as  I  have  written,  though  I  would 
willingly  make  use  of  him  to  undo  the  schism,  still  he 
changes  so  much  in  what  he  says.  Of  his  nature  he  is  timid, 
ambitious  and  inconstant." l  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Con  would 
have  made  a  good  witness  for  Laud  at  his  trial ! 

To  add  to  the  sorrows  of  Laud's  imprisonment,  news 
arrived  in  the  spring  of  1643  that  his  dear  old  native  town 
of  Reading,  after  a  siege  of  ten  days,  had  surrendered  to 
the  parliamentary  forces  under  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  had 
a  force  of  eighteen  thousand  men.  The  only  comfort  we  hear 
of  his  receiving,  about  this  time,  was  the  news  (already 
noticed  in  an  earlier  chapter)  that  Sir  Kenelm  Digby  had 
borne  witness,  in  examination  before  a  committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  that  Laud  "laboured  with  him  against 
his  return  to  the  Church  of  Rome"  and  that  he  believed 
Laud  to  be,  what  he  professed  to  be,  a  Protestant,  accom 
panied  by  a  kind  message  from  Sir  Kenelm  himself.  But 
this  was  a  single  good  incident  among  many  that  were 
unfavourable.  The  queen  was  impeached  in  the  House 
of  Lords  by  Pym,  in  the  name  of  the  Commons,  and  Waller, 
the  poet,  who  had  privately  advocated  the  formation  of  a 
third  party  to  mediate  between  the  king  and  the  Parliament, 
was  arrested,  together  with  several  who  sympathised  with 
him,  and  he  only  "saved  his  life  by  the  most  abject  sub 
mission.  '  He  seemed  much  smitten  in  conscience :  he 
desired  the  help  of  Godly  ministers.'  " 2  Two  of  his  com 
panions  were  executed. 

"  Then  came  the  Covenant,  that  excellent  Piece  of  .  .  .  ,"  3 
as  Laud  writes,  which  was  a  new  oath  taken  by  the  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  which  they  all  swore  "  never 
to  consent  to  the  laying  down  of  arms  so  long  as  the  papists, 
in  open  war  against  the  parliament  should  be  protected 
against  the  justice  thereof,  but  according  to  their  power 
and  vocation,  to  assist  the  forces  raised  by  the  parliament 

1  Transcript   from   Papal  Registers   relating   to  England,  &c.,   1637-8.    Brit. 
Mus.,  Add.  MSS.  15,390. 

2  Lingard,  vol.  viii.  chap.  i.  3"  Hist.,"  p.  210. 


%rtca7ol6431  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  4 1 7 

against  the  forces  raised  by  the  king."  It  was  ordained 
that  not  only  M.P.s,  but  every  man  should  swear  the  same 
covenant  in  his  parish  church.1 

This  oath  was  much  more  than  a  mere  protestation.  It 
was  a  covenant  between  the  English  and  the  Scots,  between 
the  Puritans  and  the  Presbyterians.  It  provided  "that  all 
endeavours  should  be  used  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Reformed  Religion  in  the  Church  of  Scotland,  both  in 
Doctrine,  Worship,  Liturgy,  and  Government ;  and  for 
bringing  the  three  Kingdoms  to  the  nearest  Conjunction, 
and  Uniformity  in  Religion,  Confession  of  Faith,  Form  of 
Church  Government,  Directory  for  Worship  and  Catechism." 
There  was  also  to  be  an  "  extirpation  of  Popery,  Prelacy, 
that  is,  Church  Government,  by  Arch-bishops  and  Bishops," 
&c.,  "  and  all  other  Ecclesiastical  Officers  depending  on  the 
Hierarchy,  Superstition,  Heresie,  Schism,  Profaneness,  and 
whatsoever  should  be  found  contrary  to  sound  Doctrine,  and 
the  power  of  Godliness." 

The  extirpation  of  archbishops  threatened  the  complete 
ruin  of  Laud,  and  afterwards  came  a  passage  that,  as  Heylin 
says,2  "seems  to  have  been  made  to  no  other  purpose  but 
to  bring  the  Archbishop  to  the  Block."  It  makes  the 
covenanters  swear  "  that  they  should  with  all  diligence  and 
faithfulness  discover  all  such  as  have  been,  or  shall  be 
Incendiaries,  Malignants,  or  evil  Instruments,  by  hindering 
the  Reformation  of  Religion,  dividing  the  King  from  his 
People,  or  one  of  the  Kingdoms  from  one  another,  or  making 
any  Faction  or  Parties  amongst  the  People  contrary  to  this 
League  and  Covenant,  that  they  may  be  brought  to  publick 
trial,  and  receive  condign  punishment,  &c."  If  Laud's  name 
had  been  mentioned  among  them,  the  object  of  these  words 
could  scarcely  have  been  plainer.  Heylin  says 3  that  certain 
people  "with  no  unhappy  curiosity  observing  the  number 
of  words  which  make  up  this  Covenant,  abstracted  from  the 
Preface  and  Conclusion  of  it,  found  them  amounting  in  the 
total  to  666,  neither  more  nor  less,  which  being  the  number 
of  the  Beast  in  the  Revelation,  &c.,  &c.,  may  very  justly 

1  Lingard,  vol.  viii.  chap.  i.  -  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  478.  3  Ib.,  p.  479. 

2  D 


41 8  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

intitle   it    to    so    much    of  Antichrist,    as   others    have   en 
deavoured  to  confer  on  the  Popes  of  Rome." 

When  the  news  of  this  covenant  reached  the  king,  he 
interdicted  all  his  subjects  from  either  imposing  or  taking  it, 
but  his  proclamation  "came  out  too  late  to  hinder  the  taking 
and  enjoying  of  this  Covenant"^  Two  days  after  the  members 
of  Parliament  and  the  Assembly  of  divines  took  it  in  St 
Margaret's  Church,  Westminster,  "  it  was  administered  with 
no  less  solemnity  to  divers  Lords,  Knights,  Gentlemen, 
Colonels,  Officers,  Souldiers,  and  others  residing  in  and 
about  the  City  of  London''  On  the  Sunday  following,  it 
was  "enjoyned  to  be  taken"  in  all  the  churches  and  "Chappels 
of  London,  within  the  Lines  of  Communication,  by  all  and 
every  the  Inhabitants  within  the  same,  as  afterwards  by  all 
the  Kingdom  in  convenient  time.  Prosecuted  in  all  places, 
with  such  cursed  rigour,  that  all  such  who  refused  to  sub 
scribe  the  same,  and  to  lift  up  their  hands  to  God  in  testi 
mony  that  they  called  him  to  witness  to  it,  were  turned  out 
of  house  and  home,  as  they  use  to  say,  not  suffered  to 
compound  for  their  Goods  or  Lands  till  they  had  submitted 
thereunto.  A  terrible  and  a  woful  time,  in  which  men  were 
not  suffered  to  enjoy  their  Estates  without  betraying  them 
selves  to  the  King's  displeasure,  and  making  shipwrack  of  a 
good  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God." 

Meanwhile,  Charles  was  no  less  eager  than  the  covenanters 
in  proclaiming  his  Protestant  orthodoxy.  On  one  occasion, 
when  Archbishop  Usher  was  just  going  to  give  him  com 
munion,  he  rose  and  said  to  him,  in  a  loud  enough  voice  for 
the  whole  congregation  to  hear 2 : — "  My  Lord,  I  have  to  the 
utmost  of  my  soul  prepared  to  become  a  worthy  receiver ;  and 
may  I  so  receive  comfort  by  the  blessed  sacrament,  as  I  do 
intend  the  establishment  of  the  true  reformed  Protestant 
religion,  as  it  stood  in  its  beauty  in  the  happy  days  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  without  any  connivance  at  popery."  [This  almost 
sounded  like  a  hit  at  Laud.]  "  I  bless  God  that  in  the 
midst  of  these  publick  distractions  I  have  still  liberty  to 
communicate ;  and  may  this  sacrament  be  to  my  damnation, 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  479.  2  Rush  worth,  v.  346. 


arca^s-]  Life  Oj-  A rchbishop  Laud.  4 1 9 

if  my  heart  do  not  joyn  with  my  lipps  in  this  protestation." 
Who,  then,  was  ever  a  stronger  Protestant  than  Charles  I.  ? 
It  was  no  question  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  English 
Church  in  its  continuity  from  the  early  British  Church,  which 
always,  as  we  are  now  told,  opposed  Rome,  or  the  English 
Catholic  Church  versus  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  ;  but 
"  the  true  reformed  Protestant  religion " !  and  might  the 
sacrament,  which  he  was  then  and  there  about  to  receive,  be 
to  his  damnation,  if  his  heart  did  not  join  with  his  lips  in  this 
his  solemn  declaration  of  Protestantism. 

Pennington,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  was  now  made  Lieu 
tenant  of  the  Tower,  and  the  day  after  he  took  possession  of 
it,  which  was  a  Sunday,  Laud  had  to  endure  listening  to  a 
sermon  from  a  preacher  who  wore  a  buff  coat  under  his  gown, 
and  told  the  congregation  that  those  who  died  in  the  cause 
of  the  Parliament  "  were  all  Blessed,"  "  with  much  more  such 
stuff." 

Laud  had  now  been  long  in  prison  awaiting  his  trial,  and 
in  October  1643  he  writes: — "By  this  time  Mr  Pry  ft  s 
malice  had  hammer'd  out  something."  Ten  additional 
articles  were  brought  against  him  by  the  Commons  on  the 
24th,  and  he  was  required  to  answer  them  in  writing  in  six 
days.  He  at  once  sent  to  the  Lords  to  ask  for  longer  time, 
for  money  out  of  his  own  sequestrated  estate  "  to  fee  "  his 
"  councel,  and  to  bear  the  necessary  Charge  of"  his  "  Trial ; 
for  Councel,  and  for  a  Solicitor,  and  some  Servants  to  attend  " 
his  "  Business,"  The  Lords  gave  him  all  he  asked  for  except 
the  money,  as  to  which  they  referred  him  "  to  the  Committee 
of  Sequestrations."  The  latter  desired  him  to  appear  "  in 
Forma  Pauperis"  On  this  and  other  questions  he  sent 
several  petitions  to  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 

His  trial  had  been  delayed  by  the  alarm  felt  by  the  Parlia 
ment  at  some  of  the  king's  successes ;  but  when  the  parlia 
mentary  troops  were  reported  to  be  getting  the  best  of  the 
war,  the  Commons  took  heart  and  proceeded  fearlessly 
against  the  archbishop.  In  short,  as  Heylin  puts  it1 : — "And 
thus  the  business  was  drilled  on,  hastned,  or  slackned,  as  the 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  482. 


420  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  [Srt?a7o.643> 

Scots  advanced  in  their  expedition  ;  and  as  the  expedition 
prospered  in  success  and  fortune,  so  was  it  prosecuted  and 
advanced  to  its  fatal  Period.  For  understanding  that  the 
Scots  were  entred  England  and  had  marcht  victoriously 
almost  as  far  as  the  Banks  of  the  River  Tine,  they  prest  the 
Lords  to  name  a  day  for  the  beginning  of  his  Tryal,  who 
thereupon  fixed  it  upon  Tuesday  the  twelfth  of  March  next 
ensuing." 

But  I  am  anticipating.  In  the  previous  November,  he  was 
summoned  to  the  Bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  in  order  to  put 
in  his  claims  for  the  assistance  of  counsel  and  fees  to  pay 
them  with.  What  he  x  "  spake  to  the  Lords  was  this  :  '  That  I 
had  no  Skill  to  judge  of  the  Streights  into  which  I  might  fall 
by  my  Plea,  which  I  had  resolved  on,  being  left  without  all 
assistance  of  my  Councel,  in  regard  to  the  nature  and  form  of 
the  Impeachment,  that  was  against  me." 

When  he  had  put  in  his  written  answer — "  All  Advantages 
of  Law  against  this  Impeachment  saved  and  reserved  to  this 
Defendant,  he  pleads  Not  Guilty  to  all,  and  every  part  of  the 
Impeachment,  in  manner  and  form  as  'tis  Charged  in  the 
Articles:"  he  humbly  besought  their  Lordships  "to  take 
into  their  Honourable  Consideration,"  his  great  years,  "  being 
Threescore  and  ten  compleat,"  pleading  that  his  "Memory,  and 
other  Faculties,  by  Age  and  Affliction,"  were  "  much  decayed," 
and  that  he  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  his  "  long  Im 
prisonment,  wanting  very  little  of  three  whole  Years,  and  this 
last  year  little  better  than  close  Imprisonment."  Then  he 
thanked  the  Lords  for  assigning  him  counsel ;  at  the  same 
time  expressing  a  doubt  whether,  as  his  "  Councel  were  most 
ready  to  obey  their  Lordships  in  all  the  Commands  laid  upon 
them,"  they  would  advise  him  "  without  Offence."  The 
charges  against  him  were  "  so  interwoven,  and  left  without 
all  distinguishment,  what  is  intended  as  a  Charge  of  Treason, 
and  what  of  Crime  and  Misdemeanour :  That  to  remove  these 
Doubts,"  he  "  had  humbly  besought  their  Lordships  twice  for 
distinguishment,  &c.,"  and  his  "  Prayers  were  "  "  that  having 
(not  without  much  difficulty)  prevailed  upon"  his  "Councel 

1  "  Hist.,"  212. 


a]  £ife  of  Archbishop  Laud.  421 

to  attend  ;  tJieir  Lordships  would  be  pleased  to  hear  them 
speak  in  this  very  perplexed  Business." 

His  counsel  were  heard,  and  so  far  induced  the  Lords  to 
"  think  upon  the  distinguishment  "  that  they  "  seem'd  some 
what  better  content,  that  they  had  gotten  so  much."  He 
adds,  with  evident  pride  : — "  Not  long  after  this,  I  heard  from 
good  Hands,  that  some  of  the  Lords  confessed,  I  had  much 
deceived  their  expectation  ;  for  they  found  me  in  a  Calm,  but 
thought  I  would  have  been  stormy,"  anticipating  that  "  Choler 
and  Indignation  might  thrust  forth."  If  they  had  expected 
anything  of  the  kind,  they  had  been  foolish  enough  to  forget 
that  it  is  one  thing  to  be  a  judge — especially  in  such  a 
tribunal  as  the  Star  Chamber — and  quite  another  to  be  a 
prisoner. 

Twice,  again,  within  the  next  couple  of  months,  he  had  to 
appear  at  the  Bar  "  at  the  Lords  House"  to  put  in  his 
answers,  before  his  regular  trial  began.  On  the  last  occasion 
(it  was  the  22nd  of  January)  "  the  TJiames  was  so  full  of  Ice, 
that  he  could  not  go  by  Water.  It  was  Frost  and  Snow,  and 
a  most  bitter  day."  He  went  "  therefore  with  the  Lieutenant 
in  his  Coach,  and  twelve  Warders  with  Halberts  went  all  along 
the  Streets."  He  "  could  not  obtain  either  the  sending  of 
them  before,  or  the  suffering  them  to  come  behind,  but  with 
the  Coach  they  must  come ;  which  was  as  good  as  to  call  the 
People  about  "  him.  "  So  from  the  Tower-gate  to  Westmin 
ster!'  ne  "  was  sufficiently  railed  on,  and  reviled  all  the  way. 
God  forgive  the  misguided  People."  Coming  back,  however, 
"  the  Tyde  serving  "  him,  he  "  made  a  hard  shift  to  return 
by  Water." 

On  the  28th  of  December  1643,  "  one  Mr  Wells"  a  New- 
England  minister  went  to  the  Tower,  obtained,  through  the 
son  of  the  Lieutenant,  an  interview  with  Laud,  "  and  in  a 
boisterous  manner  demanded  to  know "  whether  he  had 
repented  or  not.  Laud  fancied  that  he  had  never  seen  the 
man  before  ;  but,  when  he  hinted  as  much,  Mr  Wells  cor 
rected  him,  reminding  him  that  when  he  had  been  a  clergy 
man  in  Essex,  Laud,  then  Bishop  of  London,  had  suspended 
him.  By  degrees,  Laud  "  recalled  the  Man  to  "  his  "  Rcmcm- 


422  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  Cg?a7o.643' 

brance,  and  what  care  "  he  "  took  in  Conference  with  him  at 
London-House,  to  recall  him  from  some  of  his  turbulent  ways  ; 
but  all  in  vain."  This  probably  meant  a  sound  and  violent 
rating.  Now  Mr  Wells  was  taking  care  to  recall  Laud  from 
some  of  his  turbulent  ways,  telling  him  in  conclusion  that  he 
"went  about  to  bring  Popery  into  the  Kingdom,  and"  he 
hoped  he  should  have  his  "  Reward  for  it."  But  the  last 
word  was  with  Laud,  who  writes  : — "  When  I  saw  him  at  this 
heighth,  I  told  him,  he  and  his  Fellows,  what  by  their  Ignor 
ance,  and  what  by  their  Railing,  and  other  boisterous  Carriage, 
would  soon  actually  make  more  Papists  by  far,  than  ever  I 
intended  ;  and  that  I  was  a  better  Protestant  than  he,  or  any 
of  his  Followers."  A  proud,  nor  unfounded  boast !  "  So  I 
left  him  in  his  Heat,"  he  says.  He  tells  us  nothing  of  his 
own  temperature. 

We  now  approach  Laud's  trial.  To  deal  with  it  at  length 
would  require  a  separate  volume.  Laud's  own  account  of 
it  fills  more  than  two  hundred  folio  pages.  So  many  are  the 
details  of  his  past  that  are  brought  to  light  in  it,  that  to  take 
the  trial  alone,  and  write  fully  upon  it,  would  be  one  way,  nor 
altogether  a  bad  way,  of  writing  a  life  of  Laud.  I  have 
rather  worked  in  the  opposite  direction,  referring  occasionally 
to  Laud's  account  of  his  trial  for  particulars  on  this  point  or 
on  that,  in  the  course  of  my  attempt  to  write  his  biography. 

It  was  an  exceedingly  long  trial.  "  Mr  Pryn  was  trusted 
with  the  providing  of  all  the  Evidence,  and  was  Relater 
and  Prompter,  and  all  :  Never  weary  of  anything,  so  he 
might  do  "  Laud  "  mischief."  The  counsel  employed  by 
the  Government  against  the  prisoner  were  Serjeant  Wilde, 
Browne,  Maynard,  Nicolas,  and  Hill ;  but  the  last  named 
"  was  Cons\\\-Bibulus"  and  did  not  speak  at  the  Bar. 

Laud  was  convinced,  and  with  reason,  of  the  strong  general 
feeling  that  he  must  be  sacrificed.  "  A  Man  of  good  Credit " 
told  him  that  "  a  Parliament-Wzn  "  "  was  pleased  to  say  " 
that  Laud  was  now  an  old  man,  and  that  it  would  be  a 
happy  thing,  both  for  himself  and  the  Parliament,  if  God 
would  be  pleased  to  take  him  away ;  but  Laud  writes  that  he 
was  certain  that  "  if  Age,  or  Grief,  or  Faintness  of  Spirit  had 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  423 

ended  "  his  days,  there  would  have  been  an  outcry  "  against 
this  hard  Chance,  that  should  take  away  so  guilty  a  Person 
from  Publick  Tryal."  When  a  friend  of  his  bemoaned  his 
case  to  "  another  Parliament-Man  (of  whom  "  he  "  had  de 
served  very  well),"  and  said  he  was  a  good  man,  "  The  Parlia 
ment-Man  replyed,  Be  he  never  so  Good,  we  must  now  make 
him  III  for  our  own  sakesT  During  the  trial  itself,  again, 
"  some  Citizens  of  London  were  heard  to  say,  that  indeed  " 
Laud  "  answered  many  things  very  well :  But "  he  "  must 
suffer  somewhat  for  the  Honour  of  the  House" 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

I  YIELD  to  none  in  my  admiration  of  the  courage  with  which 
Laud  met  his  judges  and  his  accusers  at  his  trial ;  yet  I  can 
not  but  admit  that  he  may  have  been,  to  some  small  extent, 
buoyed  up  all  through  it  by  the  thought  that  he  had  a  signed 
and  sealed  pardon  from  the  king  in  his  pocket,  in  case  he 
should  be  condemned  to  death.  Clarendon  says  l  that  "  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  who  had  always  a  great  Rever 
ence  and  affection  for  him,  had  spoken  to  the  King  of  it," 
[his  trial]  "  and  proposed  to  him,  '  that  in  all  events,  there 
might  be  a  Pardon  prepared,  and  sent  to  him,  under  the  Great 
Seal  of  England ;  to  the  end,  if  they  proceeded  against  him 
in  any  form  of  Law,  he  might  plead  the  King's  Pardon ;  which 
must  be  allow'd  by  all  who  pretended  to  be  govern'd  by  the 
Law  ;  but  if  they  proceeded  in  a  Martial,  or  any  other  extra 
ordinary  way,  without  any  form  of  Law,  his  Majesty  should 
declare  his  Justice  and  Affection  to  an  old  faithful  Servant, 
whom  he  much  esteem'd,  in  having  done  all  towards  his  pre 
servation  that  was  in  his  power  to  do.5  The  King  was 
wonderfully  pleased  with  this  Proposition  ;  and  took  from 
thence  occasion  to  commend  the  Piety  and  Virtue  of  the 
Arch-Bishop,  with  extraordinary  Affection  ;  and  commanded 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  to  cause  the  Pardon  to  be 
prepared,  and  his  Majesty  would  Sign  and  Seal  it  with  all 
possible  secrecy;  which  at  that  time  was  necessary."  This 
project  was  carried  out,  and  the  pardon,  "  Sign'd  and  Seal'd 
with  the  Great  Seal  of  England"  was  "  carefully  sent,  and 
deliver'd  into  the  Arch-Bishop's  own  hand,  before  he  was 
brought  to  his  Trial ;  who  receiv'd  it  with  great  joy,  as  it  was 
a  Testimony  of  the  King's  gracious  Affection  to  him,  and 
care  of  him,  without  any  opinion  that  they  who  endeavour'd 

1  Vol.  iv.  p.  573. 
424 


e  of  Archbishop  Laud.  425 

to  take  away  the  King's  Life,  would  preserve  his  by  his 
Majesty's  Authority." 

When  Laud  showed  the  pardon  to  his  counsel,  they  made 
certain  technical  objections  to  it,  so  he  sent  it  back  to  the 
king  by  the  same  messenger,  and  "  it  was  perfected  accord 
ingly,  and  deliver'd  safely  again  to  him,  and  was  in  his  hands 
during  the  whole  time  of  his  Trial." 

I  will  endeavour  to  keep  my  account  of  this  celebrated 
trial  for  high  treason  within  reasonable  limits  ;  but  I  should 
not  be  doing  justice  to  the  subject  unless  I  gave  some  idea  of 
the  articles  of  impeachment.  I  will,  therefore,  quote  a 
summary  of  them  from  Celebrated  Trials,  and  Remarkable 
Cases  of  Criminal  Jurisprudence.  From  the  Earliest  Records 
to  the  Year  1825  :  and  the  reader  can  glance  through  it,  or 
not,  as  he  pleases. 

These  articles  were  sent  in  two  divisions.     The  first  were  :— 

"  I.  That  he  had  traitorously  endeavoured  to  subvert  the 
laws,  and  introduce  arbitrary  government. 

"  2.  That  he  had  denied  the  authority  of  parliaments, 
establishing  an  absolute  power,  not  only  in  the  king,  but  in 
himself  and  other  bishops,  above  and  against  the  law. 

"  3.  That  by  threats  and  promises  to  the  judges,  he  had 
perverted  the  courts  of  justice,  and  deprived  the  king's  subjects 
of  their  rights. 

"4.  That  in  his  own  courts  he  had  sold  justice,  and  taken 
bribes. 

"  5.  That  he  had  caused  divers  canons  to  be  made,  contrary 
to  the  king's  prerogative,  and  the  laws ;  established  an  un 
lawful  authority  in  himself,  and  successors  ;  and  endeavoured 
to  confirm  his  exorbitant  power  by  a  wicked  oath. 

"  6.  That  he  had  assumed  a  papal  and  tyrannical  power. 

"  7.  That  he  endeavoured  to  subvert  the  true  religion,  and 
introduce  popish  superstition. 

"  8.  That  he  abused  the  trust  his  Majesty  reposed  in  him, 
procuring  the  nomination  of  persons  to  ecclesiastical  prefer 
ments,  which  belonged  to  others,  preferring  persons  that  were 
popishly  affected. 

"9.  That  his  own  chaplains,  to  whom  he  committed  the 


426  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  CI?*'644' 

licensing  of  books,  were  popishly  affected,  which  had 
occasioned  the  publishing  of  divers  superstitious  books. 

"  10.  That  he  endeavoured  to  reconcile  the  churches  of 
England  and  Rome,  and  countenanced  the  establishing  a 
popish  hierarchy  in  the  kingdom. 

"  ii.  That  he  had  caused  several  orthodox  ministers  to  be 
silenced,  and  deprived,  and  many  loyal  subjects  to  forsake 
the  kingdom. 

"  12.  That  he  had  abrogated  the  privileges  granted  the 
French  and  Dutch  churches  in  this  kingdom,  endeavouring 
to  cause  discord  between  the  Church  of  England  and  other 
reformed  churches. 

"  13.  That  he  had  laboured  to  bring  divers  popish  innova 
tions  into  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  in  order  to  create  a  war 
between  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Scotland,  and  advised 
his  Majesty  to  subdue  the  Scots,  forcing  the  English  clergy 
to  contribute  to  that  war ;  that  he  had  censured  the  pacifica 
tion  as  dishonourable,  and  so  incensed  his  Majesty,  that  he 
entered  into  an  offensive  war  with  the  Scots. 

"  14.  That,  to  prevent  his  being  questioned  for  these  traitor 
ous  proceedings,  he  endeavoured  to  subvert  the  rights  of  the 
parliament,  and  to  cause  divisions  between  his  Majesty  and 
his  people  ;  for  which  they  impeached  him  of  high  treason." 

The  second  set  of  articles  comprised  the  following  : — 

"  I.  The  first  additional  article  charges,  that  in  the  3rd 
and  4th  year  of  the  king,  he  caused  the  parliament  to  be 
dissolved,  and  aspersed  the  members,  affirming  they  were 
factious  Puritans,  and  commended  the  Papists. 

"  2.  That  for  ten  years  past  he  had  endeavoured  to  advance 
the  power  of  the  council-table,  the  canons  of  the  church,  and 
the  king's  prerogative  above  the  laws. 

"  3.  That  to  advance  the  ecclesiastical  power,  he  had 
hindered  the  granting  writs  of  prohibition  to  the  ecclesiastical 
courts. 

"4.  That  a  judgment  being  given  against  one  Burley,  a 
parson,  for  non-residency,  he  had  stayed  execution  by  apply 
ing  to  the  judges,  and  said,  '  He  would  never  suffer  a 
judgment  to  pass  against  a  clergyman,  by  nihil  dicit.' 


<ca  x«44.  L  je  O:  A  rckbisho    Laud. 


x.  e  O       rcso       au.  4  2  7 

"  5.  That  he  had  caused  Sir  John  Corbet,  a  justice  of 
peace,  to  be  imprisoned,  for  causing  the  petition  of  right 
to  be  read  at  the  sessions  of  the  peace  ;  and,  during  his 
imprisonment,  granted  away  part  of  the  glebe  lands  of 
Alderley  "  [Adderley]  "  belonging  to  the  said  Sir  John  ;  and 
prevented  the  execution  of  a  judgment,  which  Sir  John  had 
obtained,  and  procured  him  to  be  committed  by  the  council- 
table,  till  he  submitted  to  their  order. 

"  6.  That  divers  sums  being  given  for  purchasing  impro- 
priations,  he  had  caused  the  same  to  be  overthrown  in  the 
Court  of  Exchequer. 

"  7.  That  he  had  harboured  and  relieved  Popish  priests, 
who  had  traduced  the  39  articles. 

"  8.  That  he  had  said,  a  blow  must  be  given  to  the  church 
before  it  could  be  brought  to  conformity. 

"  9.  That  in  May  1640  he  caused  the  convocation  to  be 
held,  after  the  dissolution  of  the  parliament,  where  canons 
were  made,  contrary  to  law  and  the  privilege  of  the  parlia 
ment,  and  a  dangerous  and  illegal  oath  formed,  approving  the 
doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  established  church,  and  pro 
mising  not  to  consent  to  any  alteration  in  the  government  of 
the  church  by  archbishops,  bishops,  deans,  archdeacons,  &c. 
Which  oath  he  had  taken  himself,  and  caused  other  ministers 
to  take  ;  and  imprisoned  the  bishop  of  Gloucester,  for  refusing 
to  subscribe  the  said  canons,  and  take  the  oath,  till  he 
submitted. 

"  10.  That  a  resolution  being  taken  at  the  council-table  for 
assisting  the  king  by  extraordinary  means,  if  the  parliament 
should  prove  peevish,  the  archbishop  wickedly  advised  his 
Majesty  to  dissolve  the  parliament  in  1640,  and  it  was  there 
upon  dissolved  ;  and  soon  after  he  told  his  Majesty,  '  that  he 
was  now  absolved  from  all  rules  of  government,  and  at  liberty 
to  use  extraordinary  ways  for  a  supply.'  "  l 

Now  the  evidence  given  in  the  foregoing  portion  of  the 
present  volume  should  be  sufficient,  I  think,  to  convince  the 
reader  of  three  things  ;  the  first,  that  a  great  part  of  the 
above  charges  were  utterly  unfounded  ;  the  second,  that  a 

1  "Celebrated  Trials,"  vol.  ii.  pp.  26-28. 


428  Life  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  [Ss^i1.64* 

large  proportion  of  the  remainder  were  grossly  exaggerated  ; 
the  third,  that  there  was  a  certain  residue  of  true  accusations 
which,  in  the  hands  of  the  kind  of  judges  who  were  to  try 
Laud,  might  be  used  for  ruinous,  if  not  fatal,  purposes.  This 
being  the  case,  it  became  of  the  utmost  importance  to  him  to 
ascertain  which  of  the  offences  charged  in  the  articles  were 
held  to  be  high  treason,  and  which  mere  misdemeanours,  and 
for  this  reason,  as  we  saw  in  the  last  chapter,  he  "  besought 
their  Lordships  twice  for  distinguishment." 

At  last  the  day  came,  and  the  little  old  man,  still  rather 
lame,  hobbled  to  the  Bar  of  the  House  of  Lords,  dressed  in 
his  black  gown  and  white  ruff,  without  his  rochet,  and  wear 
ing  his  close-fitting  black  cap  on  his  head.  As  he  looked  up 
the  long  hall,  with  its  tapestried  walls,  within  which  he  had 
so  often  acted  a  prominent  part,  he  observed  that  the  benches 
on  either  side  were  very  scantily  occupied.  Instead  of  being 
set  at  his  ease  by  seeing  an  array  of  judges  that  was  numer 
ically  far  from  formidable,  he  was  filled  with  dismay  ;  for  he 
knew  that  the  larger  the  number  of  peers  present,  the  stronger 
would  have  been  the  majority  in  his  favour. 

He  had  only  just  become  "  settled  at  the  Bar,"  when 
Serjeant  Wilde  rose  to  open  the  case  for  the  prosecution.  If 
Laud  had  little  personal  knowledge  of  Wilde,  he  had  "  had  a 
Character  given  "  him  "of  this  Gentleman,  which"  he  fore- 
bore  to  express.  Still,  he  was  conscious  that  he  himself  had 
been  a  member  of  the  august  body  which  was  to  try  him, 
and  he  probably  comforted  himself  with  the  reflection  that, 
for  this  reason,  he  would  be  treated  with  respect  and  courtesy, 
if  with  severity. 

When  he  had  passed  sentence  on  Williams,  had  he  not 
begun  with  compliments  ?  Whatever  might  come  later  in 
the  Serjeant's  speech,  the  opening  would  be  flattering.  A 
contemporary  writer  informs  us  that  Serjeant  Wilde  spoke 
"  with  abundance  of  elegancy." 

"  This  great  cause  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,"  he 
began,1  "  after  a  long  and  painful  travail,  is  now  come  to  the 
Birth."  And  then  he  explained  the  reasons  of  the  long 

1  "  Canterburies  Doome." 


fe  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  429 

delay,  amounting  to  three  years  and  as  many  months.  Hav 
ing  disposed  of  these  preliminary  details,  he  proceeded  to  the 
business  in  hand.  "  If  all  the  oppressions,  all  the  pernicious 
practices  and  machinations,  which  have  been  in  each  time  to 
ruinate  our  religious  laws  and  liberties,  were  lost,  I  think  here 
they  might  be  found  again  to  the  life." 

Then  he  enumerated  some  of  the  prisoner's  crimes.  He 
"  laboured  a  Reconciliation  with  Rome."  (I  am  quoting  now 
from  Laud's  own  account.1)  He  "  maintained  Popish  and 
Arminian  Opinions:"  he  "suffered  Transubstantiation, Justi 
fication  by  Merits,  Purgatory,  and  what  not,  to  be  openly 
preached  all  over  the  Kingdom  : "  he  "  induced  Superstitious 
Ceremonies,  as  Consecrations  of  Churches,  and  Chalices,  and 
Pictures  of  Christ  in  Glas-Windows  "  :  he  "  held  Intelligence 
with  Cardinals  and  Priests,  and  endeavoured  to  ascend  to 
Papal  Dignity  ;  Offers  being  made  "  him  "  to  be  a  Cardinal." 
He  "caused  Sermons  to  be  Preached  in  Court  to  set  the 
Kings  Prerogative  above  the  Law."  Presently  he  went  on  (I 
refer  now  to  Prynne's  account 2)  : — "  Had  they  been  faults  of 
common  frailty,  error  or  incognitancy,  which  this  man  had 
committed,  we  should  gladly  have  stepped  back,  and  cast  a 
cloak  over  them  ;  but  being  so  wilful,  so  universal,  so  com 
prehensive  of  all  the  evils  and  miseries  which  now  we  suffer, 
the  sin  would  lie  upon  our  own  heads,  if  we  should  not  call 
for  justice." 

After  going  on  in  this  strain,  for  a  time,  he  said  : — "  That 
which  of  itself  is  so  heinous  is  much  more  enhanced  and  aggra 
vated  by  the  quality  of  the  person  :  a  church-man  ;  a  great 
prelate  ;  a  great  man  in  great  trust  ;  "  and  "  a  man  endued 
with  so  great  gifts  of  nature  " — here  Laud  may  have  been  re 
minded  of  his  own  sentence  on  Williams — "  and  favour  from 
His  Majesty,  and  for  all  these  to  be  perverted  to  a  contrary 
end,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the  public,  and  the  ruin  of  the 
womb  that  bare  him,  how  deep  a  dye  do  these  impose  upon 
his  foul  crime."  3 

"  Here  was  treason  in  the  highest  pitch  and  altitude"  (I 
am  quoting  now  from  Celebrated  Trials*) ;  "even  the  betray  - 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  221.         -  "  Canterburies  Doome."        3  Ib.         4  Vol.  ii.  p.  30. 


430  L  ife  of  A  rchbiskop  Laud.  [£rtca7I'644' 

ing  the  whole  realm,  and  the  subversion  of  the  very  founda 
tions."  "  Churchmen  in  all  ages,  were  the  archest  seedsmen 
of  mischief,  and  the  principal  actors  in  all  the  great  distrac 
tions  that  had  happened  ;  and  as  they  meddled  with  tem 
poral  things,  heterogeneal  to  their  calling,  God  was  pleased 
to  smite  with  blindness,  and  infatuate  their  councils,  of  which 
this  prelate  was  an  instance  ;  who,  employing  his  time  in 
state  affairs,  became  the  author  of  all  the  illegal  and  tyran 
nical  proceedings  and  innovations  in  religion  and  govern 
ment,  and  indeed,  of  all  the  concussions  and  distractions 
that  had  happened  in  church  and  state.  And  when  by  the 
magnanimity  of  former  princes,  and  the  wisdom  of  their  ances 
tors,  they  had  shaken  off  the  antichristian  yoke ;  and  when 
they  had  seen  such  bloody  massacres,  plots,  and  prosecutions 
at  home  and  abroad,  in  order  to  introduce  it  again  ;  that  this 
man  should  go  about  to  reduce  them  to  those  rotten  prin 
ciples  of  error  and  darkness  again,  it  could  not  be  expected 
but  the  people  should  be  ready  to  stone  him." 

"  To  conclude."  (I  quote  from  Prynne.1)  "  Naaman  was  a 
great  man,  but  he  was  a  leper.  This  man's  leprosy  hath  so 
infected  all,  as  there  remains  no  other  cure  but  the  sword  of 
justice,  which  we  doubt  not  but  your  Lordships  will  so  apply, 
that  the  Common  Wealth  shall  yet  live  again  and  flourish." 

The  rodomontade  of  this  Serjeant  Buzfuz  of  the  seven 
teenth  century  greatly  affected  the  prisoner  against  whom  it 
was  directed.  "  I  was  much  troubled,"  he  writes,  "  to  see  my 
self,  in  such  an  Honourable  Assembly  made  so  vile."  Never 
theless,  he  braced  himself  up  and  said  : — 

"  My  Lords,  my  being  in  this  Place,  and  in  this  Condition, 
recalls  to  my  memory  that  which  I  long  since  read  in  Seneca; 
Tormentum  est,  etiamsi  absolutus  quis  fuerit,  Causam  dixisse. 
'Tis  not  a  grief  only,  no,  'tis  no  less  than  a  Torment,  for  an 
ingenuous  Man  to  plead  Criminally,  much  more  Capitally,  at 
such  a  Bar  as  this  ;  yea,  though  it  should  so  fall  out,  that  he 
be  absolved.  The  truth  of  this  I  find  at  present  in  my  self: 
And  so  much  the  more  because  I  am  a  Christian  ;  And  not 
that  only,  but  in  Holy  Orders  ;  And  not  so  only,  but  by  God's 

1  "Canterburies  Doome,"  p.  53. 


fe  of  Archbishop  Laiid.  43 1 

Grace  and  Goodness  preferred  to  the  greatest  Place  this 
Church  affords  ;  and  yet  now  brought,  Causam  dicere,  to  Plead, 
and  for  no  less  than  Life,  at  this  Great  Bar.  And  whatsoever 
the  World  thinks  of  me  (and  they  have  been  taught  to  think 
more  ill,  than,  I  humbly  thank  Christ  for  it,  I  was  ever 
acquainted  with ;)  Yet,  my  Lords,  this  I  find,  Tormentum  est, 
'tis  no  less  than  Torment  to  me  to  appear  in  this  Place  to 
such  an  Accusation.  Nay,  my  Lords,  give  me  leave,  I  be 
seech  you,  to  speak  plain  Truth  :  No  Sentence,  that  you  can 
justly  pass  upon  me  (and  other  I  will  never  fear  from  your 
Lordships],  can  go  near  me  as  Causam  dixisse,  to  have 
pleaded  for  my  self,  upon  this  occasion,  and  in  this  Place. 
For  as  for  the  Sentence  (I  thank  God  for  it)  I  am  at  St  Paul's 
Word  :  If  I  have  committed  any  thing  worthy  of  death,  I 
refuse  not  to  die :  For  I  bless  God,  I  have  so  spent  my  time,  as 
that  I  am  neither  ashamed  to  live,  nor  afraid  to  die.  Nor 
can  the  World  be  more  weary  of  me,  than  I  am  of  it :  For 
seeing  the  Malignity  which  hath  been  raised  against  me  by 
some  Men,  I  have  carried  my  Life  in  my  Hands  these  divers 
years  past.  But  yet,  my  Lords,  if  none  of  these  things, 
whereof  these  Men  accuse  me,  merit  Death  by  Law  ;  though 
I  may  not  in  this  Case,  and  from  this  Bar  appeal  unto  Ccesar  ; 
yet  toy  our  Lordships  Justice  and  Integrity,  I  both  may,  and 
do  Appeal  ;  not  doubting,  but  that  God  of  his  Goodness  will 
preserve  my  Innocency." 

Laud's  greatest  enemies  could  not  fairly  deny  that  this 
opening  of  his  defence  was  dignified  and  pathetic,  and  as  free 
from  bombast  as  from  cringing  servility.  He  went  on  to  say 
that  the  charge  against  him  was  divided  into  two  "  main 
Heads,  the  Laws  of  the  Land,  and  the  Religion  by  those 
Laws  established." 

As  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  he  made  a  very  good  case 
for  himself  for  having  been  "as  strict  an  Observer  of  them 
all  the  Days  of"  his  "  Life,  so  far  as  they"  concerned  him, 
"  as  any  Man."  His  defence  in  the  matter  of  religion  was 
longer ;  for  he  knew  very  well  that  it  was  here  that  the 
danger  lay.  It  was  on  his  freedom  from  any  inclination  to 
Catholicism  that  he  placed  most  stress.  "  My  Lords,"  he 


432  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

said,  "  I  am  as  Innocent  in  this  business  of  Religion,  as  free 
from  all  Practise,  or  so  much  as  thought  of  Practise  for  any 
alteration  to  Popery,  or  any  way  blemishing  the  True  Pro 
testant  Religion  Established  in  the  Chnrcli  of  England,  as  I 
was  when  my  Mother  first  bare  me  into  the  World."1  Again 
he  says  : — "  If  I  had  any  purpose  to  blast  ,the  True  Religion 
Established  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  to  introduce 
Popery ;  sure  I  took  a  very  wrong  way  to  it."  Then  he 
said  that  he  "stayed  as  many  that  were  going  to  Rome, 
and  reduced  as  many  that  were  already  gone,"  as  any 
"  Bishop  or  other  Minister  "  in  England.  He  gave  the  names 
of  about  twenty  people,  whom  he  had  either  induced  to 
leave  the  Catholic  Church  after  joining  it,  or  to  refrain  from 
joining  it  when  they  were  on  the  point  of  doing  so. 

Thus  ended  the  first  day  of  his  trial.  He  then  left  the 
Bar  and  "  went  patiently  into  the  little  Committee-Chamber 
at  the  entring  into  the  House!'  Thither  a  Mr  Peters,  a 
clergyman  whom  Laud  had  never  before  seen,  but  of  whom 
he  had  heard  more  than  enough,  followed  him  "  in  great 
haste,  and  began  to  give  "  him  "  ill  Language,"  telling  him 
that  "  he,  and  other  Ministers,  were  able  to  name  Thousands, 
that  they  had  converted."  Peters  was  in  such  a  "choler" 
that  one  of  Laud's  counsel  "  stepped  between  "  them,  and 
reproached  him  for  his  "  uncivil  Carriage  "  towards  the  arch 
bishop  "  in  his  Affliction."  Mr  Peters  revenged  himself  by 
going  shortly  afterwards  to  a  church  in  Lambeth  and  preach 
ing  against  Laud,  saying  u  that  a  great  Prelat,  their  Neighbour 
(or  in  words  to  that  effect),  had  bragged  in  the  Parliament- 
House,  that  he  had  Converted  Two  and  Twenty  ;  but  that 
he  had  Wisdom  enough,  not  to  tell  how  many  Thousands 
he  had  Perverted." 

"  After  a  little  stay  "  in  the  "  Committee-Chamber,"  Laud 
received  his  "  Dismission  for  that  time,  and  a  Command 
to  appear  again  at  Nine  in  the  Morning."  He  must  have 
spent,  from  first  to  last,  a  good  deal  of  time  in  this  chamber ; 
for  he  tells  us  that  although  nine  in  the  morning  was  his 
"  usual  Hour  to  attend,"  he  "  was  seldom  called  into  the 
141  Hist.,"  p.  225. 


Circa  ^644. 


]  £  ^   Qj:  A  ;r/^>/^   Laticl.  433 


House  till  two  Hours  after."  Worse  than  this,  on  one 
occasion,  he  writes1:  —  "After  some  Hours  Attendance,  I 
was  sent  back  again  unheard,  and  Order'd  to  come  again 
on  Thursday"  and  on  another,  "  I  was  again  brought  to  the 
House,  made  a  sufficient  scorn  and  gazing-stock  to  the 
People  ;  and  after  I  had  waited  some  hours,  was  sent  back, 
by  Reason  of  other  Business,  unheard."  Twice  again  he 
mentions  that  he  "  attended  the  Pleasure  of  the  House  some 
Hours,"  and  "  was  remitted  without  Hearing  "  ;  and  he  com 
plains  of  "  the  Charge  which  this  frequent  coming  put  "  him 
to.  u  I  did  not  appear  any  day  but  it  cost  me  six  or  seven 
Pound.  I  grew  into  want."  - 

Besides  its  expense,  "  this  frequent  coming  "  was  attended 
with  other  annoyances.  We  find  him  writing3  that  "the 
Landing  place  at  Westminster  was  not  so  full  of  People  ; 
and  they  which  were  there,  much  more  civil  towards  me 
than  formerly.  My  Friends  were  willing  to  perswade  me, 
that  my  Answer  had  much  abated  the  edge  of  the  People, 
saving  from  the  violent  and  factious  Leaders  of  the  Multitude, 
whom  it  seems  nothing  would  satisfie  but  my  Life  (for  so 
I  was  told  in  plain  terms,  by  a  Man  deeply  interested  in 
them  ;)  when  I  presently  saw  Quaterman  coming  towards 
me,  who,  soon  as  he  came,  fell  to  his  wonted  Railing,  and 
asked  aloud,  what  the  Lords  meant,  to  be  troubled  so  long  and 
so  often,  witJi  suck  a  base  Fellow  as  I  was,  tJiey  should  do  ivell 
to  Hang  me  out  of  the  way.  " 

Before  dealing  with  Laud's  trial  in  detail,  it  may  be  well 
to  consider  some  of  the  public  events  which  had  recently 
taken  place,  or  were  to  take  place  in  the  course  of  it. 

The  great  ecclesiastic  in  the  neighbouring  kingdom,  whom 
Laud  is  believed  by  some  historians  to  have  emulated,  if  not 
imitated,  was  no  more.  Cardinal  Richelieu  had  died  when 
he  was  at  the  summit  of  his  power,  just  at  the  time  that  death 
was  threatening  Laud  when  power  had  fallen  from  his  grasp. 
Again,  when  Laud's  master,  Charles  I.,  had  lost  the  control  of 
the  kingdom  which  he  had  ruled  in  so  despotic  a  manner  for 
many  years,  a  youthful  king,  who  was  to  become  remarkable 

1  "  iiist.,"  P.  281.  -  ii>.,  p.  281.  3  ib.,  P.  354. 

2   E 


434  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Srtca7Il644* 

as  the  embodiment  of  extreme  monarchical  pretensions,  had 
ascended  the  throne  of  France,  in  the  person  of  Louis  XIV. 
In  England,  a  very  different  character  was  rapidly  rising  to 
distinction  during  the  progress  of  the  trial  of  Laud.  Oliver 
Cromwell  was  to  be  the  means  of  destroying  the  king  who 
had  not,  perhaps,  been  so  faithful  to  Laud  as  Laud  had  been 
to  him.  In  the  middle  of  Laud's  trial,  Cromwell  crushed  the 
power  of  the  royalists  in  the  North  of  England  at  the  battle 
of  Marston  Moor.  Each  piece  of  news,  as  it  reached  Laud  in 
the  Tower,  must  have  increased  his  hopelessness.  Perhaps 
the  most  cruel  blow  of  all  may  have  been  the  abolition  of  his 
beloved  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

It  was  while  Laud's  trial  was  going  on  that  the  great  party 
of  Independents  attained  its  extraordinary  supremacy  in 
England.  Their  very  existence  as  a  predominant  power 
would  have  been  fatal  to  Laud's  liberty,  if  not  to  his  existence. 

Meanwhile,  the  appearance  of  the  streets  of  London  had 
greatly  changed.  The  smart  cavaliers  and  gay  royalist  troops 
were  no  more  seen,  and  in  their  place  were  round-heads, 
whigs,  high-peaked  hats,  black  capes,  "  godly  "  ministers,  and 
the  sombre  uniforms  of  the  parliamentary  soldiers.  The 
"  raskle  rabble,"  as  Heylin  called  it,  was  allowed  to  go 
pretty  much  where  it  liked,  and  peers  and  peeresses,  and 
country  squires  and  their  wives  and  daughters  were  little 
thought  of  or  respected.  It  is  true  that  the  wild  ruffianism 
and  immorality  that  usually  accompany  revolutions  were 
absent,  and  that  sermons,  which  are  rarely  tolerated  in  any 
shape  on  such  occasions,  were  the  favourite  entertainment  of 
both  soldiers  and  civilians  ;  but  it  was  none  the  less  evident 
that  London  was  in  the  stern  presence  of  what  has  been  well 
named  by  Clarendon  "  The  Great  Rebellion." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

AN  account  of  the  trial  of  Laud  might  be  written  in  more 
than  one  way.  His  biographer,  Heylin,  might  be  quoted  to 
the  effect  that  his  persecutors  found  l  "  more  difficulty  in  it 
than  was  first  lookt  for,"  as  his  defence  "gave  such  a  general 
satisfaction  to  all  that  heard  it,  that  the  mustering  up  of  all 
the  evidence  against  him  would  not  take  it  off.  To  prove  the 
first  branch  of  the  charge  against  him,  they  had  ript  up  the 
whole  course  of  his  Life,  from  his  first  coming  to  Oxford,  till 
his  Commitment  to  the  Tower;  but  could  find  no  sufficient 
Proof  of  any  design  to  bring  in  Popery,  or  suppress  the  true 
Protestant  Religion  here  by  Law  Established.  For  want 
whereof,  they  insisted  upon  such  Reproaches  as  were  laid 
upon  him  when  he  lived  in  the  University,  the  beautifying  of 
his  Chappel  Windows  with  Pictures  and  Images,  the  Solemn 
Consecration  of  Churches  and  Chappels,  &c.,  &c.  ;  "  "  the  care 
and  diligence  of  his  Chaplains  in  expunging  some  offensive 
passages  out  of"  certain  books;  "the  preferring  of  many 
able  men  to  his  Majesties  Service,  and  to  advancements 
in  the  Church  ; "  "  and  finally  the  Piety  of  his  en 
deavours,  &c." 

Or  another  contemporary  writer  might  be  chosen  as  the 
authority  to  follow,  and  we  might  "begin  with  his  ovvne 
Kennel  at  Lambeth"2  and  show  how  it  was  proved  by  his 
accusers  that  "  no  chappell  in  Rome  could  be  more  idolatrous;" 
that  he  had  taught  his  clergy  to  make  "  low  bowings  or  duck 
ings  to  the  Altar;"  and  that  "  he  likewise  introduced  Gaudy 
Romish  Copes  into  his  Chappell."  Next  we  might  "pursue 
and  trace  this  Romish  Fox  from  his  chappell  and  public,  to 
his  Study  and  private  devotions."  "  Having  hunted  this 
Popish  Vermin  from  place  to  place  in  his  own  kennel,  and 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  491.  2  "  Canterburies  Doome,"  pp.  59  and  foil. 

435 


436  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [St^i!644' 

bolted  him  out  thence,"  we  might  follow  him  "  from  Lambeth 
across  the  Thames  to  the  Kings  own  Royal  Chapel  at  White 
hall,"  and  see  what  was  proved  against  him,  at  his  trial, 
concerning  his  misdoings  there  ;  we  might  "  in  the  next  place 
pursue  this  Romish  Reinold  unto  our  Cathedrall  Churches, 
where  hee  began  his  Popish  Innovations  very  early  ;  "  and  last 
of  all  we  might  "  so  fully  uncase  this  Romish  Fox,  as  not 
withstanding  all  his  shifts  and  subterfuges  to  evidence  him 
the  most  Pestilent  Jesuiticall  underminer  and  subverter  of  the 
established  doctrines  of  tlie  ChurcJi  of  England,  the  Archest 
advancer  of  the  Erroneous  Positions  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
that  ever  breathed  in  our  English  Ay  re." 

A  third  method  would  be  to  work  entirely  from  Laud's  own 
account  of  the  trial,  which  is  much  the  fullest.  I  propose  to 
make  the  latter  the  basis  of  my  report;  but  freely  to  use 
materials  from  various  convenient  sources  and  to  make  my 
story  as  short  as  I  can. 

First  I  will  quote  from  Clarendon.1  "  They  accused  him 
'  of  a  design  to  bring  in  Popery,'  and  of  having  '  corre 
spondence  with  the  Pope,'  and  such  like  particulars,  as 
the  Consciences  of  his  greatest  Enemies  absolv'd  him  from. 
No  Man  was  a  greater,  or  abler  Enemy  to  Popery ;  No 
Man  a  more  resolute  and  devout  Son  of  the  Church  of 
England.  He  was  prosecuted  by  Lawyers,  assign'd  to  that 
purpose,  out  of  those,  who  from  their  own  Antipathy  to  the 
Church  and  Bishops,  or  from  some  disobligations  receiv'd  from 
him,  were  sure  to  bring  Passion,  Animosity,  and  Malice 
enough  of  their  own,  what  evidence  soever  they  had  from 
others.  And  they  did  treat  him  with  all  the  rudeness, 
reproach,  and  barbarity  imaginable  ;  with  which  his  Judges 
were  not  displeased.  He  defended  himself  with  great  and 
undaunted  Courage,  and  less  Passion  than  was  expected  from 
his  Constitution  ;  answer'd  all  their  objections  with  clearness, 
and  irresistible  reason  ;  and  convinced  all  impartial  Men  of 
his  Integrity,  and  his  detestation  of  all  Treasonable  Inten 
tions.  So  that  though  few  excellent  Men  have  ever  had 
fewer  Friends  to  their  Persons,  yet  all  reasonable  Men 

1  "Hist,  of  the  Reb.,"  vol.  iv.  p.  572. 


44']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  437 

absolv'd  him  from  any  foul  Crime  that  the  Law  could  take 
notice  of,  and  punish." 

I  will  now  give  a  short  summary  of  some  of  the  evidence 
brought  against  him  in  the  course  of  his  trial. l 

Alderman  Atkins  deposed  that  when  he  was  prosecuted 
before  the  Council  about  ship-money,  Laud  was  more  violent 
against  him  than  anybody  else. 

Sir  Henry  Vane  swore  that  when  the  last  Parliament  rose, 
the  archbishop  said  to  the  king  that  "  now  he  might  use  his 
power." 

It  was  deposed  that  when  someone  had  denied  the  king's 
proclamation  to  be  of  equal  force  to  a  statute,  his  grace  had 
replied  :— "  Whosoever  falls  upon  it  shall  be  broken  ;  but 
upon  whomsoever  it  falls,  it  shall  grind  him  to  powder." 

The  imprisoning  of  Burton,  Prynne,  and  Bastwick  were 
laid  to  his  charge,  as  also  was  that  of  Sir  John  Corbet. 

A  witness  named  Ask  swore  that  he  had  protected  some 
players  who  had  been  found  at  a  tavern  at  an  unreasonable 
hour  of  the  night,  and  that  he  had  threatened  Ask  himself 
for  not  coming  to  receive  the  sacrament  at  the  communion- 
rails. 

A  Brownist  named  Grafton  deposed  that  he  had  been 
imprisoned  and  fined  £50,  owing  to  the  archbishop. 

Witnesses  deposed  that  Laud  had  censured,  deprived,  and 
imprisoned  a  good  clergyman  named  Huntley;  that  he 
practically  took  a  bribe  by  making  Sir  Edward  Gresham 
give  half  a  bond  of  £200,  which  the  Court  assigned  to  him, 
towards  the  repair  of  St  Paul's  ;  that  he  got  the  men  of 
Chester  fined  £1000  for  feasting  Prynne,  and  then,  for  the 
bribe  of  two  hogshead  of  sack,  had  the  fine  reduced  to  £200  ; 
that  he  brought  Sir  Richard  Samuel  before  the  High 
Commission  simply  for  doing  his  duty  as  a  magistrate  in 
punishing  some  clergymen  ;  that  he  had  summoned  some 
other  magistrates  for  holding  their  sessions  in  a  part  of  the 
church  at  Tewkesbury  ;  that  he  had  illegally  extorted  from 
the  king  a  patent  for  appropriating  the  fines  inflicted  by  the 
Court  of  High  Commission  to  the  repairing  of  St  Paul's  ; 

1  Chiefly  from  "  Celebrated  Trials,"  vol.  ii. 


438  Life  of  A rchbishop  Laud.  [Srtca7Il644' 

that  he  had  presented  a  blind  man  to  a  living ;  that,  making 
himself  a  universal  law-giver,  he  had  illegally  altered  the 
statutes  for  cathedrals  and  the  University  of  Oxford  ;  and 
that  he  had  assumed  papal  power  by  allowing  himself  to  be 
written  to  as  Sanctitas  tua,  Spiritu  sancto  effusissime  plenus, 
and  Summus  Pontifex. 

Further  evidence  was  produced  in  a  Bible  found  in  his 
study  with  the  five  wounds  of  our  Lord  represented  upon  the 
cover,  a  Missal,  and  some  other  Catholic  books  ;  and  it  was 
shown  by  depositions  that  there  was  an  Ecce  Homo  among 
the  ["pictures  in  his  gallery  and  a  painting  behind  the  com 
munion-table  in  his  chapel. 

It  was  proved  that  he  had  caused  very  many  communion 
tables  to  be  placed  altar-wise ;  that  he  had  consecrated 
communion  plate  ;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  passed 
heavy  sentences  in  the  Court  of  High  Commission  upon  a 
clergyman  who  had  preached  against  images,  as  well  as  upon 
another  who  had  removed  a  representation  of  God  the  Father 
from  a  church  window  at  Salisbury. 

Sir  Henry  and  Anthony  Mildmay  gave  evidence  that  he 
was  hated  in  Rome  by  one  faction  and  loved  by  another,  and 
that  there  was  a  strong  opinion  that  there  had  been  a  con 
siderable  improvement  in  the  prospects  of  a  reconciliation 
between  the  Anglican  and  Catholic  Churches  since  he  had 
been  in  power. 

Other  witnesses  swore  that,  on  hearing  that  a  clergy 
man  whom  he  had  driven  out  of  his  benefice  had  gone  to 
New  England,  he  said  that  his  arm  should  reach  him  even 
there ;  that  he  had  suppressed  the  English  Bible  with 
Geneva  notes,  and  had  also  suppressed,  or  tampered  with, 
other  religious  books ;  that  he  had  said  in  the  Star  Chamber 
that  the  altar  was  the  greatest  place  of  God's  residence  on 
earth,  "  greater  than  the  pulpit "  ;  and  that  he  had  stated 
"that  the  Church  of  Rome  and  ours,  were  all  one,  that  we 
did  not  differ  in  fundamentals,  but  circumstances,  that  Rome 
was  a  true  church,  &c." 

Another  accusation  was  that  he  had  had  "  intelligence  " 
with  the  Pope  through  a  Franciscan  Friar  named  Santa 


fe  of  Archbishop  Laud.  439 

Clara,  and  had  given  him  rooms  at  Oxford.  As  this  matter 
has  not  yet  been  noticed  in  these  pages,  I  may  take  this 
opportunity  of  saying  that,  among  the  State  Papers,  are  his 
notes  on  this  subject,  in  which  he  states  that  this  man  "was 
setting  out  a  book  about  the  Articles  of  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,"  and  "  his  desire  was  to  have  his  book  printed  here." 
"  I  gave  him  this  answer :  That  I  did  not  like  the  way  which 
the  Church  of  Rome  went  concerning  Episcopacy  ;  and  how 
soever  that  I  could  never  give  way  that  any  such  book  from 
the  pen  of  any  Romanist  should  be  printed  here  ;  and  that 
the  Bishops  of  England  are  very  well  able  to  defend  their 
own  cause  and  calling,  without  calling  in  aid  from  Rome, 
and  would  so  do  when  they  saw  cause."  1  He  only  gave 
him  rooms  at  Oxford,  at  the  request  of  the  king,  in  order 
that  he  might  have  the  use  of  the  library. 

Many  passages  out  of  his  Diary,  which  I  have  already 
noticed,  as  well  as  events  which  I  have  recorded,  were  put 
in  and  sworn  to  as  evidence. 

Although  Laud  had  the  assistance  of  counsel,  he  con 
ducted  his  own  case  in  the  House  of  Lords,  except  on  some 
purely  technical  points,  and,  when  he  had  returned  to  the 
Tower,  he  carefully  wrote  out  an  account  of  each  day's 
defence.  Perhaps  he  may  have  made  up  his  mind  that  his 
judges  were  determined  to  condemn  him  to  death,  whatever 
might  happen,  and  he  may  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  best  he  could  hope  for  would  be  to  be  acquitted  by 
posterity,  when  his  own  history  of  his  trial  should  be  read 
by  future  generations. 

Many  of  the  charges  brought  against  him  were  so  frivolous 
that  he  was  able  to  reply  to  them  without  difficulty  and  even 
to  hold  them  up  for  derision.  In  respect  to  not  a  few  of  the 
remainder,  he  answered  that  the  actions  of  other  men,  and 
even  those  of  the  Star  Chamber,  the  Council  Table,  the 
Court  of  High  Commission,  and  Convocation  were  unjustly 
attributed  to  himself,  personally,  when  he  had  had  nothing 
to  do  with  them,  or  else  exclusively  laid  to  his  charge  when 
he  had  only  shared  in  them  with  several  others. 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1641-3,  p.  542. 


440  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Laud  showed  no  want  of  courage  in  addressing  his 
judges.  For  instance,  when  replying  to  a  charge  of  saying 
that  certain  churchwardens,  who  refused  to  turn  a  com 
munion-table,  which  was  placed  "  table-wise,"  "  altar-wise," 
"  deserved  to  be  laid  by  the  Heels  for  the  Contempt  of  their 
Bishop  "  ;  he  said  l : — "  Under  Favour,  my  Lords ,  I  spake 
Truth."  Again,  in  defending  himself  for  having  been  the 
means  of  causing  a  man  named  Adams  to  be  excommuni 
cated,  he  said  2 : — "  I  cannot  but  think  he  well  deserved  it." 
Yet  again,  when  dealing  with  an  accusation  that  he  had  had 
a  pew  taken  down  which  "was  set  above  the  Communion 
Table  "  in  a  London  church,  he  said 3 : — "  I  confess  to  your 
Lordships,  I  could  never  like,  that  Seats  should  be  set  above 
the  Communion  Table  :  If  that  be  any  Error  in  me,  be  it  so." 

Now  and  then  he  would  give  a  slap  to  a  witness.  A  Mr 
Wheeler  had  given  evidence  of  an  offensive  passage  in  one  of 
his  sermons,  and  of  this  he  spoke 4  as  follows  : — "  I  cannot 
but  be  sorry  to  hear  it  from  Mr  Wheeler  s  own  Mouth  ;  that 
he  was  so  careful  to  write  this  Passage,  and  so  ready  to 
come  to  witness  it  against  me ;  considering  how  many  Years 
I  have  known  him,  and  how  freely  he  hath  often  come  to  my 
Table,  and  been  welcome  to  me  ;  yet  never  told  me,  this 
Passage  in  my  Sermon  troubled  him.  It  seems  some 
Malignity  or  other  laid  it  up  against  this  wet  Day." 

Mr  Nicholas,  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  manage 
the  evidence  against  him,  said  "  Tis  Blasphemy  to  give  that 
Title  (Sanctitas)  in  the  Abstract,  to  any  but  God."  5  Laud 
replied  that  it  had  been  given  to  many  bishops  besides  him 
self  (to  say  nothing  of  its  not  having  been  applied  ex 
clusively  to  Popes),  "  clean  through  the  Primitive  Church, 
both  Greek  and  Latin  ;  "  and  he  added  that  he  "  must  tell  Mr 
Nicholas,  that  'tis  a  great  Presumption  for  him,  a  Lawyer,  and 
no  Studied  Divine,  to  Charge  Blasphemy  upon  all  the  Fathers 
of  the  Primitive  Church.  'Tis  given  to  St  Augustine  by 
Hilarius  and  Enodius,  and  in  the  Abstract."  And  presently 
he  said  : — "  According  to  Mr  Nicolas  his  Divinity,  we  shall 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  262.  2  2b.t  p-  267>  3  /£>}  pt  272t 

4  /£.,  p.  273.  5  Ib.,  p.  284. 


44']  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  441 

learn  in  time,  to  deny  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  For  Im 
mortality  in  the  Abstract  is  applied  to  God  only,  i  Tim.  6, 
who  only  hath  Immortality.  Therefore,  if  it  may  not  in  an 
under  and  a  qualified  Sense,  by  Participation,  be  applied  to 
the  Creature,  the  Soul  of  Man  cannot  be  Immortal''  It 
seems  strange  that  a  man  who  could  see  the  force  of  this 
argument  should  not  be  able  to  understand  the  inferior 
worship  or  homage  paid  by  Catholics  to  saints. 

But  to  return  to  Mr  Nicholas.  On  another  day  of  his  trial, 
Laud  said  that  "  Mr  Nicolas  was  up  again  with  Pander  to  the 
Whore  #/ Babylon,  and  his  other  foul  Language,"  and  he  went 
on  to  prove  that  one  of  Mr  Nicholas's  "  zealous  Witnesses 
against  the  Whore  of  Babylon"  was  not  a  particularly  moral 
character  in  his  own  private  life,  and  he  implied  in  language 
which  would  not  be  tolerated  in  the  present  day,  that  he 
would  do  well  to  remember  that  there  were  other  places  be 
sides  Babylon  in  which  all  people  were  not  quite  so  immaculate 
as  might  be  desired. 

A  Mr  Pincen  bore  witness  that  Laud,  in  the  Court  of  High 
Commission,  had  declared  that  the  clergy  were  now  "  de 
based."  To  this  Laud  answered  x : — "  Truly,  my  Lords,  if  I 
did  say  thus  (which  is  more  than  I  can  call  to  Memory)  I 
spake  truth  ;  they  were  debased." 

Laud  was  accused  of  treason  and  assuming  Papal  power  in 
forbidding  marriages  in  the  chapel  of  the  White  Tower  at  the 
Tower  of  London,  the  witness  being  "  Sir  William  Balfore, 
then  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower.  He  says,  that  /  did  oppose 
those  Marriages.  And  so  say  I.  But  I  did  it  for  the  Subject 
of  England "s  sake.  For  many  of  their  Sons  and  Daughters 
were  there  undone.  Nor  Banes  "  (Banns)  "  nor  Licence,  nor 
any  means  of  fore-knowledge  to  prevent  it.  Was  this  ill  ? " 
Later  he  writes  : — "  Then  he  tells  the  Lords,  that  in  a  Dis 
course  of  mine  with  him  at  Greenwich,  about  this  business,  I 
let  fall  an  Oath.  I  am  sorry  for  it,  if  I  did.  But  that's  no 
Treason"  And  by-and-bye,  he  girds  himself  up  for  a  thrust 
at  his  tormentor,  saying : — "And  his  Majesty  having  Graciously 
taken  this  Care  for  the  Indempnity  of  his  Subject,  I  troubled 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  287.  -  /£.,  p.  295. 


442  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [£rtca7i!644' 

my  self  no  more  with  it :  My  aim  being  not  to  cut  off  any 
Priviledges  of  that  Place,  but  only  to  prevent  the  Abuses  of 
that  Lawless  Custom.  And  if  cut  bono  be  a  considerable  Cir 
cumstance,  as  it  uses  to  be  in  all  such  Businesses,  then  it  may 
be  thought  on  too,  that  this  Gentleman  the  Lieutenant  had 
a  considerable  share  for  his  part  out  of  the  Fee  of  every 
Marriage.  Which  I  believe  was  as  dear  to  him  as  the 
Priviledge." 

He  is  delighted  to  have  a  laugh  at  his  old  enemy,  Prynne, 
too  1 : — "  I  pray  in  all  this  curious  Search  (and  Mr  Pryn  here, 
and  all  along  spared  no  pains),  why  were  no  Prayers  to  the 
B.  Virgin  and  the  Saints  found,  if  I  were  so  swallowed  up  in 
Popery  ? "  He  loses  his  temper  with  Prynne,  on  another 
occasion,  about  the  stained  glass  windows  in  his  chapel. 
Prynne  had  said  that  "  he  had  taken  a  survey  of  the  Windows 
at  Lambeth.  And  I  doubt  not  his  diligence."2  "He  says, 
the  Pictures  of  these  Stories  are  in  the  Mass-Book.  If  it  be  so, 
yet  they  were  not  taken  thence  by  me.  Arch-Bishop  Morton 
did  that  work,  as  appears  by  his  Device  in  the  Windows.  He 
says,  the  Story  of  the  day  of  Judgment  was  in  a  Window  in 
atrio,  that  must  not  come  into  the  Chappel.  Good  Lord, 
whither  will  Malice  carry  a  Man  ? " 

He  is  severe,  again,  upon  some  clergymen  who  said  he  had 
unjustly  suspended  them.  Of  one  he  observes3 : — "  He  says, 
that  his  Patron  took  away  his  Benefice.  Why,  my  Lords,  he 
had  none  ;  he  was  only  a  Curate,  and,  God  knows,  unfit  for 
that."  Of  another  : — "  He  says,  That  I  sent  to  Sir  Nath. 
Brent  to  Suspend  him.  That  is  true,  but  it  was  when  he 
would  neither  Obey,  nor  keep  in  his  Tongue." 

One  of  the  charges  led  to  a  curious  defence,  which  has  an 
important  bearing  upon  his  views  concerning  apostolical 
succession.  I  will  quote  his  own  words 4 : — "  The  First 
Charge  is,  That  I  deny  them  to  be  a  Church"  (i.e.,  the 
French  and  Dutch  Reformed  Churches)  :  "  For  they  say, 
that  I  s&y  plainly  in  my  Book  against  Fisher,  that  No  Bishop, 
no  Church."  And  then  he  says  that  "  Mr  Nicolas  added,  that 
this  was  seconded  by  Bishop  Mountague's  Book,  which  Mr 

1  "Hist.,"  p.    314.  2  /^  p>   3I7<  3  /^  p.   344>  4    //;i?  p<   374- 


of  Archbishop  Laud.  443 

Pryn  (carefully)  witnessed  was  found  in  my  Study,  and 
Licensed  by  Dr  Braye "  :  who  was  one  of  Laud's  deputies. 
Observe  now  what  Laud  says  on  this  point :  — "  He " 
Montague,  "  adds  this  Exception,  that  none  but  a  Bishop 
can  ordain,  but  in  Casu  Necessitates,  which  is  the  Opinion 
of  many  Learned  and  Moderate  Divines."  That  is  to  say, 
when  a  priest  is  urgently  required,  and  no  bishop  can  be 
obtained  to  ordain  him,  a  simple  priest  can  do  so.  It  is  a 
case  of  necessity.  It  might  very  rarely  happen,  but,  were  it 
to  do  so,  the  thing  might  be  done.  Verily,  necessity  is  the 
mother  of  invention  !  He  makes  this  further  comment : — 
"  Yet  this  is  very  considerable  in  the  Business,  whether  an 
inevitable  Necessity  be  cast  upon  them,  or  they  pluck  a  kind 
of  necessity  upon  themselves." 

It  would  be  very  wrong,  he  evidently  means,  for  any  one 
to  go  purposely  out  of  reach  of  bishops  in  order  to  have  the 
excuse  of  ordaining  a  priest  on  the  ground  of  "  inevitable 
Necessity,"  and  thus  "  pluck  a  kind  of  Necessity  "  ;  but  if  a 
shipwrecked  crew  and  one  clergyman  were  to  be  cast  on  a 
desert  island,  and  the  clergyman  were  to  find  himself  dying 
he  might  ordain  a  successor,  who  would  be  able  to  celebrate 
the  eucharist  for  them  just  as  well  as  any  other  in  the  world. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  is  a  tremendous  admission. 
Of  course,  the  strictest  Catholic  theologian  would  admit  that 
a  shipwrecked  crew,  on  a  lonely  island,  could  unite  together 
in  prayer  and  worship ;  that,  if  they  had  women  with  them, 
they  could  marry,  as,  in  Casu  Necessitates,  such  marriages 
would  be  valid  ;  for  the  man  and  woman,  and  not  the  priest, 
perform  the  sacrament  in  every  marriage ;  and  that  if  they 
had  children,  they  could  themselves  baptize  them,  as  any  man, 
or  woman,  for  that  matter,  can  baptize  in  Casu  Necessitates ;  but 
no  Catholic  would  for  a  moment  allow  that  any  but  a  bishop 
could  ordain  a  priest  in  Casu  Necessitates ;  for  the  Catholic 
Church  does  not  make  two  and  two  equal  to  five  in  casu  neces 
sitates.  For  instance,  where  there  is  no  priest,  no  host  can  be 
consecrated,  and  where  there  is  no  consecrated  host  there 
can  be  no  sacramental  communion  ;  but  the  Church  teaches 
her  children  that  they  can  make  spiritual  communions 


444  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [£tca7i!644~ 

wherever  they  may  be,  and  one  of  her  saints  compares 
sacramental  and  spiritual  communions  to  gold  and  silver 
vessels  ;  she  teaches  that,  where  no  priest  can  be  obtained, 
a  good  act  of  contrition  gains  forgiveness  of  sin ;  she  claims, 
by  the  power  of  the  keys,  to  grant  enormous  spiritual 
blessings  to  those  who  devoutly  make  certain  short  ejacula 
tions,  wherever  they  may  be,  and  more  especially  at  the 
hour  of  death  ;  and  she  lays  enormous  stress  on  the  doctrine 
that  the  desire  for  sacraments,  where  they  cannot  be  had, 
may  obtain  the  graces  of  them  ;  but  she  never  pretends  that 
any  but  bishops  can  consecrate  bishops  or  ordain  priests,  or 
that  any  but  priests  can  make  bread  and  wine  into  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  even  in  the  most  extreme  casu 
necessitatis. 

It  is  but  fair  to  Laud  to  say  that,  in  mentioning  the 
question  of  the  validity  of  ordinations  by  others  than  bishops, 
in  casu  necessitatis,  he  observes  that  his  accusers  said  he 
disliked  the  idea  of  it ;  but  he  does  not  deny  the  doctrine ; 
indeed  he  appears  to  imply  that  orders  so  given  would  be 
valid,  provided  the  necessity  were  "  inevitable,"  and  not 
"plucked." 

It  is  very  far  from  my  purpose  to  deny  that  Laud  believed 
in  either  apostolical  succession  or  the  real  presence,  as  he  un 
derstood  them ;  on  the  contrary,  in  that  sense,  he  was  an 
ardent  champion  of  both  ;  but  I  do  most  emphatically  deny 
that  he  believed  in  what  Catholics  understand  by  those  terms, 
or  anything  at  all  approaching  it,  and  I  more  than  doubt 
whether  he  believed  in  what  modern  High-Churchmen  mean 
when  they  make  use  of  them,  although  this  is  a  somewhat 
"  unknown  quantity,"  and  a  point  on  which  I  write  under  a 
possibility  of  correction. 

One  day,  when  Laud  came  to  the  Bar  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  he  was  surprised  to  see  l  "  every  Lord  present  with  a 
New  Thin  Book  in  Folio  in  a  blue  Coat."  He  adds : — "  I 
heard  that  Morning  that  Mr  Pryn  had  Printed  my  Diary \ 
and  Published  it  to  the  World  to  disgrace  me.  Some  Notes 
of  his  own  are  made  upon  it.  The  first  and  the  last  are  two 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  411. 


e  of  Archbishop  Laud.  445 

desperate  Untruths,  besides  some  others.  This  was  the 
Book  then  in  tJie  Lords  Hands,  and  I  assure  my  self,  that 
time  picked  for  it,  that  the  sight  of  it  might  damp  me,  and 
disinable  me  to  speak  :  I  confess  I  was  a  little  troubled  at 
it." 

When  he  did  speak,  and  it  was  the  occasion  of  a  recapitula 
tion  of  his  defence  up  to  this  point,  he  referred  to  the  fact 
of  his  judges  having  his  private  Diary  in  their  hands.  After 
complaining  that  his  very  pockets  had  been  searched,  and 
his  Diary,  nay,  his  very  prayer-book  taken  from  him,  he 
declared  that  he  was J  "  thus  far  glad,  even  for  this  sad 
Accident.  For  by  my  Diary  your  Lordships  have  seen  the 
Passages  of  my  Life  :  And  by  my  Prayer  Book  the  greatest 
Secrets  between  God  and  my  Soul :  So  that  you  may  be 
sure  you  have  me  at  the  very  bottom  :  Yet  blessed  be  God, 
no  Disloyalty  is  found  in  the  one  ;  no  Popery  in  the  other." 
This  was  something  to  be  thankful  for ! 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  413. 


CHAPTER  XL. 

LAUD'S  recapitulation,  from  which  I  gave  an  extract  at  the  end 
of  the  last  chapter,  need  not  be  discussed  at  length  in  these 
pages.  It  began  1 : — "  My  Lords,  my  Hearing  began  March 
12,  164!,  and  continued  to  the  end  of  July.  In  this  time  I 
was  heard  before  your  Lordships,  with  much  Honour  and 
Patience,  Twenty  Days,  and  sent  back  without  Hearing,  by 
reason  of  your  Lordships  greater  Employments,  Twelve 
Days.  The  rest  were  taken  up  with  providing  the  Charge 
against  me." 

Some  of  the  points  of  his  recapitulation  were  not  devoid 
of  sarcasm. 

''All  the  late  Canons  have  been  charged  against  me;  and 
the  Argument  which  is  drawn  from  thence,  must  lie  thus  : 
The  Third  of  these  Canons  for  suppressing  the  Growth  of 
Popery,  is  the  most  full  and  strict  Canon  that  ever  was  made 
against  it  in  the  Church  of  England:  Therefore  I  that  made 
this  Canon  to  keep  it  out,  am  guilty  of  endeavouring  to  bring 
it  in." 

Next  he  refers  to  his  having  "  reduced  to  tJie  Church  of 
England  as  many  that  were  gone  to  Rome,  as  I  believe  any 
Minister  in  England  can  truly  say  he  hath  done  : "  "  where 
the  Argument  lies  thus  :  I  converted  many  from  Popery,  and 
setled  them  in  the  Religion  established  in  England ;  There 
fore  I  laboured  to  bring  in  Popery ;  which  out  of  all  doubt 
can  be  no  sober  Man's  way." 

Then  he  refers  to  the  already  mentioned  "  Rome's  Master 
Piece  "  revealed  by  Andreas  ab  Habernfield,  by  which,  he 
says,  it  appeared  that  he  had  been  in  danger  of  his  life  "  for 
stiffly  opposing  the  bringing  in  of  Popery  ;  and  that  there  was 
no  hope  to  alter  Religion  in  England,  till  "  he  "  was  taken  out 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  412. 
446 


44']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  447 

of  the  way."  "  And  then,"  he  says,  "  the  Argument  against 
me  lies  thus:  There's  no  hope  to  bring  in  Popery,  till  I  am 
taken  out  of  the  way  ;  therefore  I  did  labour  to  bring  it  in. 
Do  not  these  things,  my  Lords,  hang  handsomely  together  ?  " 

"  Lastly,  There  have  been  above  Threescore  Letters  and 
other  Papers,  brought  out  of  my  Study  into  this  Honourable 
House  ;  they  are  all  about  composing  the  Differences  between 
tJie  Lutherans  and  the  Calvinists  in  Germany''  "  Then  the 
Argument  will  be  thus  :  I  laboured  to  reconcile  the  Pro 
testants  in  Germany,  that  they  might  unanimously  set  them 
selves  against  the  Papists ;  therefore  I  laboured  to  bring 
Popery  into  England." 

He  then  reminds  the  Lords  of  something  which  had  been 
said  against  him  at  the  Bar  by  his  prosecutors — "  That  they 
did  not  urge  any  of  these  particular  A  ctions  as  Treason  against 
me  ;  but  the  Result  of  them  all  together  amounted  to  Treason. 
For  answer  to  which,  I  must  be  bold  to  tell  your  Lordships, 
That  if  no  particular  which  is  charged  upon  me  be  Treason, 
the  Result  from  them  cannot  be  Treason."  "  The  Result 
must  be  of  the  same  Nature  and  Species  with  the  Particulars 
from  which  it  rises.  But  'tis  confessed  no  one  of  the  Parti 
culars  are  (sic)  Treason  :  Therefore  neither  is  the  Result  that 
rises  from  them."  "  Neither  can  the  Body  of  a  Bear,  and  the 
Soul  of  a  Lion  result  into  a  Fox  :  nor  the  Legs  of  a  Bull,  the 
Body  of  a  Horse,  and  the  Head  of  an  Ass,  result  into  a  Man." 
And  then  he  proceeds  to  prove  that,  not  only  in  nature,  but 
also  in  morality  and  law,  the  same  rule  holds  good.  He 
ends  by  thanking  their  lordships  for  the  "  very  Honourable 
Patience"  with  which  they  had  heard  him  "  through  this  long 
and  tedious  Tryal,"  by  treating  them  to  a  quotation  from  St 
Augustine,  and  by  saying : — "  And  under  that  Providence, 
which  will,  I  doubt  not,  work  to  the  best  to  my  Soul  that 
loves  God,  I  repose  my  self." 

We  travel  quickly  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous  in 
Laud's  autobiography.  Half  a  dozen  lines  below  the  quota 
tion  just  made,  he  continues  *  : — "  On  Wednesday,  Septemb. 
4,  as  I  was  washing  my  Face,  my  Nose  bled,  and  some- 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  421. 


448  Life  of  A  rchbiskop  Laud. 

thing  plentifully,  which  it  had  not  done,  to  my  remem 
brance,  in  Forty  years  before,  save  only  once,  and  that  was 
just  the  same  Day  and  Hour,  when  my  most  Honourable 
Friend  the  Lord  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  killed  at  Ports 
mouth,  my  self  being  then  at  Westminster,  And  upon 
Friday,  as  I  was  washing  after  Dinner,  my  Nose  bled  again. 
I  thank  God  I  make  no  superstitious  Observation  of  this  or 
any  thing  else  ;  yet  I  have  ever  used  to  mark  what  and  how 
any  thing  of  note  falls  to  me.  And  here  I  after  came  to 
know,  that  upon  both  these  Days  in  which  I  bled,  there  was 
great  agitation  in  the  House  of  Commons,  to  have  me 
Sentenced  by  Ordinance  ;  but  both  times  put  off,  in  regard 
very  few  of  that  House  had  heard  either  my  Charge  or 
Defence." 

And  this  was  the  man  who  found  fault  with  Catholics  for 
being  superstitious  ! 

In  reply  to  Laud's  recapitulation,  a  Mr  Brown  made  "  a 
Summ  or  Brief  of  the  Charge  which  was  brought  against  " 
him,  during  the  recital  of  which  Laud  "  possessed  "  his  "  Soul 
in  Patience  ;  yet  wondring  at  the  bold,  free,  frequent,  and 
most  false  Swearing  that  had  been  against "  him. 

Three  weeks  later,  he  writes  1 : — "  Mr  Nicolas  made  a  great 
noise  about  me  in  the  House,  and  would  have  had  me 
presently  Censured  in  the  House  ;  and  no  less  would  serve 
his  turn,  but  that  I  must  bt  Hanged,  and  was  at  Sus.  per  Coll. 
till  upon  the  Reasons  before  given,  that  if  they  went  on  this 
way,  they  must  Condemn  me  unheard  ;  this  violent  Clamour 
ceased  for  that  time." 

At  last  one  of  Laud's  own  counsel,  Mr  Hern  of  Lincoln's 
Inn,  got  up  to  defend  him,  and  "  delivered  his  A rgument  very 
freely  and  stoutly,  proving  that  nothing  which ''  Laud  "  had 
either  said  or  done  according  to  this  Charge  is  Treason,  by 
any  known  Established  Law  of  this  Kingdom."  His  speech 
was  very  dry,  very  technical,  very  abrupt,  very  jerky,  yet  very 
wordy.  Its  entire  drift  was  upon  the  legal  question  whether 
the  charges  against  his  client,  even  if  proved,  amounted  to 
high  treason.  He  maintained  the  contrary. 

1  "  Hist.  "  p.  422. 


44-]  L-j-e  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  449 

To  Laud's  intense  annoyance,  on  the  first  of  November  a 
warrant  was  delivered  to  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower  com 
manding  him  to  be  brought  to  the  Bar  of  the  House  of  Com 
mons.  "  I  knew  no  Law  or  Custom  for  this,"  he  writes ; l 
"  for  though  our  Votes  "  (those  of  the  bishops),  "  by  a  late  Act 
of  Parliament,  be  taken  away,  yet  our  Baronies  are  not  :  And 
so  long  as  we  remain  Barons,  we  belong  to  the  Lords  House, 
and  not  to  the  Commons.  Yet  how  to  help  my  self  I  knew 
not."  The  House  of  Lords  had  risen  when  he  received  notice 
to  be  at  the  Bar  of  the  Commons  the  very  next  morning ;  so 
it  was  too  late  to  petition  his  compeers  for  any  privilege. 
He  adds,  with  practical  sense,  "And  should  I  have  under  any 
Pretence  refused  to  go,  Mr  Lieutenant  would  have  carried  me." 

He  had  no  sooner  taken  his  stand  at  the  Bar  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  than  the  Speaker  informed  him  that  an  Ordi 
nance  had  been  already  drawn  up  to  attaint  him  of  high 
treason  ;  "  but,  that  they  would  not  pass  it,  till  they  had 
heard  a  Summary  of  the  Charge  which  was  laid  against"  him, 
and  that  he  "  was  sent  for  to  hear  it  also."  Laud  then 
begged  that  his  counsel  and  solicitor  "  might  stand  now  by  " 
him.  This  request  was  refused.  Upon  this,  Mr  Brown  got 
up,  and  "  delivered  the  Collection  and  Sum  of  the  Charge 
against "  him ;  "  much  at  one  with  that  which  he  formerly 
made  in  the  Lords  House" 

The  moment  that  Mr  Brown  sat  down,  the  Speaker  called 
upon  Laud  to  reply  there  and  then.  Against  this,  Laud 
humbly  protested  and  begged  for  time.  Ten  days  were 
granted  to  him. 

When  the  day  and  hour  arrived  for  him  to  make  his 
answer,  he  stood  at  the  Bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  and 
began  as  follows 2 : — "  Mr  Speaker,  I  was  here  Novemb.  2.  It 
was  the  first  time  that  ever  I  came  within  these  Doors :  And 
here  then  you  gave  me  the  most  uncomfortable  Break-fast 
that  ever  I  came  to ;  namely,  That  this  Honourable  House  had 
drawn  up  an  Ordinance  against  me  of  High  Treason  ;  but 
that  before  they  would  proceed  farther,  I  should  hear  the 
Sum  of  the  Charge  which  was  against  me  ;  which  was  the 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  432.  -St.,  p.  433- 

2   F 


450  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [St?a7jl644' 

cause  I  was  sent  for  then.  And  to  give  my  Answer  to  that 
which  was  then  said,  or  rather  mistaken  in  saying  and  infer 
ring,  is  the  cause  of  my  coming  now."  He  proceeded  to  tell 
his  judges  that  he  hoped  if  he  should  say  anything  un 
advisedly,  he  might  be  given  "  liberty  to  re-call  and  expound  " 
himself;  and  then  he  said  : — "  Favourably  consider  into  what 
Straits  I  am  cast,  that  after  a  long  and  tedious  Hearing,  I 
must  now  come  to  answer  to  a  Sum,  or  Epitome  of  the  same 
Charge;  which  how  dangerous  it  may  be  for  me,  all  Men 
that  know  Epitomes,  cannot  but  understand." 

In  referring  to  the  charge  reported  to  the  Commons  against 
him  by  Mr  Brown,  he  spoke  as  graciously  of  that  lawyer  as  he 
could  l : — "  This  worthy  Gentleman  hath  pressed  all  things  as 
hardly  against  me,  as  the  Cause  can  any  way  bear :  That  was 
his  Duty  to  this  Honourable  House,  and  it  troubles  me  not. 
But  his  Carriage  and  Expressions  were  civil  towards  me,  in 
this  my  great  Affliction  ;  And  for  this  I  render  him  humble 
and  hearty  Thanks  ;  having  from  other  Hands  pledged  my 
Saviour  in  Gall  and  Vinegar,  and  drunk  up  the  Cup  of  the 
Scornings  of  the  People  to  the  very  bottom."  He  had 
evidently  not  forgotten  the  opening  speech  for  the  prosecu 
tion  from  the  lips  of  Mr  Serjeant  Wilde  ! 

Considering  that  he  was  standing  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
House  of  Commons — and  we  must  bear  in  mind  of  what  kind 
of  men  its  members  for  the  most  part  consisted — Laud  spoke 
very  boldly  on  one  point,  Mr  Brown  had  stated  that  he  had 
complained  that  many  of  the  witnesses,  who  had  been  pro 
duced  against  him  in  the  House  of  Lords,  were  Separatists — 
not  Home  Rulers  ;  but,  as  we  should  now  say,  Dissenters — 
and  it  was  certain  that  many  Separatist  M.P.s  were  at  that 
moment  sitting  in  judgment  upon  him.  Thereupon  Laud 
said  : — "  I  did  indeed  complain  of  this,  and  I  had  abundant 
Cause  so  to  do.  For  there  was  scarce  an  active  Separatist  in 
England,  but  some  way  or  other  his  Influence  was  into  this 
Business  against  me.  And  whereas,  the  Gentleman  said,  the 
Witnesses  were  some  Aldermen,  and  some  Gentlemen,  and  Men 
of  Quality.  That 's  nothing  ;  for  both  Gentlemen,  and  Alder- 

1  "Hist.,"  p.  434. 


area  1644. ]  £  {fe  Of  A  rckbiskop  Laud.  4  5 1 

men,  and  Men  of  all  Conditions  (the  more  's  the  pity),  as  the 
Times  now  go,  are  Separatists  from  the  Doctrine  and  Discip 
line  of  the  Church  of  England  Established  by  Law.  And 
I  would  to  God  some  of  my  Judges  were  not" 

He  then  went  through  all  the  charges  which  had  been 
brought  against  him,  and  gave  an  answer  to  each,  much  as 
he  had  done  in  the  House  of  Lords,  but  more  briefly,  as  the 
time  at  his  disposal  was  very  limited. 

He  objected  to  his  trial  before  the  Commons  on  the  ground 
that  that  House  was  going  to  try  him  only  upon  Mr  Brown's 
report,  "  or  a  Hearsay,"  and  not  upon  oath.  He  "  most  humbly 
desired  "  that  his  counsel  might  be  heard  upon  the  "  point  of 
Law,"  whether  even  the  charges  brought  against  him,  "  if 
proved  (which  "  he  conceives  "  they  are  not  "),  made  him 
guilty  of  high  treason.  He  also  wished  for  the  assistance 
of  his  counsel,  because  his  infirmities  were  "  many  and  great, 
which  Age  and  Grief "  had  "added  to  those  which"  were 
"  naturally  in  "  him.  He  mentioned  his  "  full  four  years 
durance,"  and  made  an  urgent  appeal  to  the  Speaker. 

"  I  humbly  desire  you  to  take  into  consideration,  my  Call 
ing,  my  Age,  my  former  Life,  my  Fall,  my  Imprisonment, 
long  and  strict.  That  these  Considerations  may  move  you."  ] 

"  Mr  Speaker,  I  am  very  aged,  considering  the  Turmoils  of 
my  Life  ;  and  I  daily  find  in  my  self  more  Decays  than  I  make 
shew  of ;  and  the  Period  of  my  Life,  in  the  Course  of  Nature, 
cannot  be  far  off.  It  cannot  but  be  a  Grief  unto  me,  to  be 
at  these  Years  thus  Charged  before  ye  :  Yet  give  me  leave  to 
say  thus  much  without  Offence,  Whatsoever  Errors  or  Faults 
I  may  have  committed  by  the  way,  in  any  of  my  Proceedings, 
through  Human  Infirmity ;  as  who  is  He  that  hath  not 
offended,  and  broken  some  Statutes  too  by  Ignorance,  or  Mis 
apprehension  or  Forgetfulness,  at  some  sudden  time  of  Action  ? 
Yet  if  God  bless  me  with  so  much  Memory,  I  will  die  with 
these  Words  in  my  Mouth:  TJiat\  never  intended,  much  less 
endeavoured  the  subversion  of  the  Laws  of  the  Kingdom  ; 
nor  the  bringing  in  of  Popish  Superstition  upon  the  true 
Protestant  Religion,  Established  by  Law  in  this  Kingdom." 
1  "  Hist.,"  p.  439. 


452  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  [$£a7I!644< 

To  make  his  long  speech  before  the  Commons  was  all  he 
could  do.  "  I  was  exceeding  faint,"  he  says,1  "  with  speaking 
so  long ;  and  I  had  great  pain  and  soreness  in  my  Breast  for 
almost  a  Fortnight  after ;  then,  I  thank  God,  it  wore  away." 

Two  days  after  his  reply  to  Mr  Brown,  he  attended  at  the 
Bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  hear  that  lawyer's  "  reply 
to  his  reply."  It  "  had  some  great  Mistakes  in  it ;  but  else 
was  for  the  most  part  but  a  more  earnest  Affirming  of  what 
he  had  delivered."  Laud  "  conceived  "  that  he  was  not  in 
tended  to  make  a  counter-reply,  but  that  Mr  Brown  was  to 
have  the  privilege  of  "  the  last  Speech."  "  Therefore,"  says 
he,  "  being  dismissed,  I  went  away :  And  I  was  no  sooner 
gone,  but  the  House  called  for  the  Ordinance  which  was 
drawn  up  against  me,  and  without  Hearing  my  Connect,  or 
any  more  ado,  Voted  me  guilty  of  High  Treason'' 

Three  days  afterwards,  this  Ordinance  was  presented  to  the 
House  of  Lords.  There  and  then,  says  Laud,  "  the  Earl  of 
Pembroke  began  more  fully  to  shew  his  canker'd  Humour 
against  me  ;  how  provoked,  I  protest  I  know  not,  unless  by 
my  serving  him  far  beyond  his  Desert.  There,  among  other 
coarse  Language,  he  bestowed  (as  I  am  informed)  the  Rascal 
and  the  Villain  upon  me." 

The  business  of  the  Ordinance  against  Laud  was  then  dis 
cussed  and  adjourned  several  times,  for  a  fortnight,  when  the 
Lords  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  the  notes  they  had 
made  during  his  trial  in  their  own  House.  "  The  Earl  of 
Northumberland  on  the  Wool-Sack  during  the  Debate,  which 
lasted  some  days.  When  their  own  Notes  failed,  they  called 
to  Mr  Brown,  Clerk  of  their  House,  for  his." 

In  yet  another  fortnight,  December  i6th,  there  was  "(the 
Times  considered)  a  very  full  House  of  Lords  ;  about  Twenty 
present,  and  my  Business  largely  debated,  and  ready  to  come 
to  the  Question."  What  Laud  implied,  in  saying  "  the 
Times  considered,"  was  that  most  of  the  peers  had  left 
London,  either  to  support  the  king  in  person,  or  to  levy 
troops  for  him  among  their  tenants  and  retainers. 

"  I  wish,"  he  goes  on,  "  with  all  my  Heart  it  had,  while  the 

i"  Hist.,"  p.  441. 


.]  Life  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  453 

House  was  so  full.  But  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  fell  again  into 
his  wonted  violence  :  And  asked  the  Lords  what  they  stuck 
at  ?  And  added  ;  what,  shall  we  think  the  House  of  Commons 
had  no  Conscience  in  passing  this  Ordinance  ?  Yes,  they  knew 
well  enough  what  they  did.  One  of  the  Wits  hearing  this 
Excellent  Passage  of  the  Earls  ;  Protested,  If  ever  he  lived 
to  see  a  Parliament  in  Bedlam,  this  Prudent  Earl  should  be 
the  Speaker,  if  he  were  able  to  procure  him  the  Place." 

The  subject  was  then  adjourned  to  the  next  day.  There 
were  only  fourteen  peers  present  on  this  occasion ;  they 
voted  Laud  guilty  of  endeavouring  to  subvert  the  laws  and 
overthrow  the  Protestant  religion,  and  declared  him  to  be 
an  enemy  to  parliaments.  "  Then  it  being  put  to  the  Judges, 
whether  this  were  Treason  or  no;  the  Judges  unanimously 
declared,  that  nothing  which  was  charged  against "  him  "  was 
Treason,  by  any  known  and  established  Law  of  the  Land." 

On  Christmas  Eve,  the  Lords  and  the  Commons  had  "  a 
Conference  "  on  the  matter,  when  the  former  stated  that  they 
had  given  the  whole  affair  their  most  careful  consideration, 
and  were  quite  unable  to  find  the  prisoner  guilty  of  treason ; 
therefore  they  begged  that  the  arguments  which  had  been 
previously  laid  before  them  by  Laud's  counsel  might  be 
answered. 

"  Then  came  Christmas- Day!'  Laud  tells  us,  *  and  a  most 
Solemn  Fast  kept  on  it,  with  as  Solemn  an  Ordinance  for  the 
due  observance  of  this  Fast,  and  against  the  manner  of  keep 
ing  of  that  day  in  former  Superstitious  Times.  A  Fast  never 
before  heard  of  in  Christendom."  There  can  have  been  little 
object  in  instituting  this  fast  on  such  a  day,  except  to  annoy 
the  more  orthodox  Anglicans,  of  whom  Laud  was,  at  that 
time,  chief! 

After  the  conference  between  the  Lords  and  the  Commons, 
Mr  Serjeant  Wilde  told  some  friends  that  he  wondered  that 
the  peers  should  "so  much  distract  their  judgments." 

On  hearing  this,  Laud  wrote: — "To  see  how  good  Wits 
agree  !  Surely,  I  believe  he  was  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke's 
Councel,  or  the  Earl  of  his,  they  jump  so  together.  It  seems 

1  "  Hist.,"  p.  442. 


454  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [S£a7i!644' 

in  these  Mens  Opinions,  the  House  of  Commons  can  neither 
Err  in  Conscience  nor  Judgment.  Howsoever,  that  House 
thought  it  fit  the  Lords  should  be  satisfied,  that  I  was  by  Law 
guilty  of  High  Treason.  And  to  that  end  sent  up  a  Com 
mittee,  Jan.  2,  1644" — he  must  have  meant  1645 — "to  make 
proof  of  it  to  their  Lordships.  At  this  Meeting  two  Judges 
were  present,  Justice  Reeves,  and  Judge  Bacon.  The  Managers 
of  the  business  against  me  were  three  Lawyers,  Mr  Brown, 
Serjeant  Wild,  and  Mr  Nicolas.  Neither  my  self  nor  any  of 
my  Councel  there.  What  will  this  effect  upon  tJie  Lords, 
Time  must  discover,  as  it  doth  the  effect  of  other  Eclipses. 
And  thus  far  I  had  proceeded  in  this  sad  History  by  fan.  3, 
1644"  (1645).  "The  rest  shall  follow  as  it  comes  to  my 
Knowledge." 

These  were  the  last  words  written  by  Laud  in  his  History. 
A  note  in  italics  is  added  by  his  editor1: — "Next  day,  the 
Arch-Bishop  receiving  tJie  News  tJiat  tJie  Bill  of  Attainder  had 
passed  in  the  House  of  Lords,  broke  off  his  History,  and 
prepared  himself  for  Death." 

We  hear  something  of  the  place  where,  and  the  manner  in 
which,  he  received  the  information  that  he  was  to  die,  from 
Heylin.'2  "  The  passing  of  the  Ordinance  being  signified  to 
him  by  the  then  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  he  neither  enter 
tained  the  news  with  Stoical  Apathy,  nor  wailed  his  fate  with 
weak  and  womanish  Lamentations  (to  which  Extremes  most 
men  are  carried  in  this  case)  but  heard  it  with  so  even  and 
smooth  a  Temper,  as  shewed  he  neither  was  ashamed  to  live 
nor  afraid  to  die." 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  among  historians  as  to 
the  number  of  peers  who  passed  the  Ordinance  for  Laud's 
attainder ;  some  put  it  at  "  not  above  fourteen,"  3  others  say 
that  only  seven  were  present — the  Earls  of  Kent,  Pembroke, 
Salisbury,  and  Bolingbroke,  Lord  North,  Lord  Grey,  and  one 
other  unnamed.4  Clarendon  says  that  the  number  was  "  not 
above  twelve."5  Heylin  gives  the  same  names  as  those 

1   "  Hist.,"  p.  443.  -'  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  496. 

J  "  Celebrated  Trials,"  vol.  ii.  p.  43.  4  //?.,  footnote. 

5  "Hist,  of  the  Great  Reb.,"  vol.  iv.  p.  572. 


SlSy.64"]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  455 

quoted  above  with  that  of  "  Lord  Bruce  (better  known  by  the 
name  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin}  "  ; x  but  he  adds  "  that  the  said 
Lord  Bruce  hath  frequently  disclaimed  that  Action,  and 
solemnly  professed  his  detestation  of  the  whole  Proceedings, 
as  most  abhorrent  from  his  nature,  and  contrary  to  his  known 
affections." 

Clarendon's  brief  account 2  of  the  passing-  of  the  Ordinance 
may  be  worth  recording.  "  When  they  had  said  all  they 
could  against  Him,  and  he  all  for  himself  that  need  to  be 
said,  and  no  such  Crime  "  (as  treason)  "  appearing,  as  the 
Lords,  as  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicatory,  would  take  upon 
them  to  judge  him  to  be  worthy  of  death;  they  resorted  to 
their  Legislative  Power,  and  by  Ordinance  of  Parliament,  as 
they  call'd  it,  that  is  by  a  determination  of  those  Members 
who  sate  in  the  Houses  (whereof  in  the  House  of  Peers  there 
were  not  above  twelve)  they  appointed  him  to  be  put  to  death 
as  guilty  of  High  Treason.  The  first  time  the  two  Houses 
of  Parliament  had  ever  assumed  that  Jurisdiction,  or  that 
ever  Ordinance  had  been  made  to  such  a  purpose ;  nor 
could  any  Rebellion  be  more  against  the  Law,  than  their 
Murtherous  Act." 

1  "  Cyp.  Aug.,"  p.  494.  2  "  Hist,  of  the  Great  Reb.,"  vol.  iv.  p.  572. 

[This  may  not  be  an  inappropriate  place  in  which  to  quote  Carlyle's  opinion 
of  Laud.  "  Poor  Laud  seems  to  me  to  have  been  weak  and  ill-starred,  not  dis 
honest  ;  an  unfortunate  Pedant  rather  than  anything  worse.  His  '  Dreams  '  and 
superstitions,  at  which  they  laugh  so,  have  an  affectionate,  loveable  kind  of 
character.  He  is  like  a  College  Tutor,  whose  whole  world  is  forms,  College- 
rules  ;  whose  notion  is  that  these  are  the  life  and  safety  of  the  world.  He  is 
placed  suddenly,  with  that  unalterable  luckless  notion  of  his,  at  the  head  not  of  a 
College  but  of  a  Nation,  to  regulate  the  most  complex  deep-reaching  interests  of 
men.  lie  thinks  they  ought  to  go  by  the  old  decent  regulations  ;  nay  that  their 
salvation  will  lie  in  extending  and  improving  these.  Like  a  weak  man,  he  drives 
with  spasmodic  vehemence  towards  his  purpose  ;  cramps  himself  to  it,  heeding  no 
voice  of  prudence,  no  cry  of  pity  :  He  will  have  his  College-rules  obeyed  by  his 
Collegians  ;  that  first ;  and  till  that,  nothing.  He  is  an  ill-starred  Pedant,  as  I 
said.  He  would  have  it  the  world  was  a  College  of  that  kind,  and  the  world  was 
not  that.  Alas,  was  not  his  doom  stern  enough  ?  Whatever  wrongs  he  did,  were 
they  not  all  frightfully  avenged  on  him."— Lectures  on  Heroes.  The  Hero  as 
King.] 


CHAPTER  XLL 

ON  Tuesday,  the  6th  of  January,  in  the  year  1645,  it  was 
ordered  that  William  Laud,  sometime  Archbishop  of  Canter 
bury,  should  be  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  on  the  follow 
ing  Friday.  Laud  immediately  sent  to  the  Lords  the  king's 
pardon  which,  as  already  stated,  he  had  for  some  time  had 
in  his  possession,  "  which  he  pleaded,  and  tender'd  to  them, 
and  desired  that  it  might  be  allow'd," l  together  with  a 
petition,  in  which  he  prayed  that,  if  die  he  must,  the  manner 
of  his  execution  might  be  changed  to  beheading,  and  that  Dr 
Stern,  Dr  Heywood,  and  Dr  Martin  might  be  allowed  to 
attend  him,  "  before  and  at  his  Death,  to  Administer  Comfort 
to  his  Soul."  2 

The  next  day,  Wednesday,  "  the  Lords,  at  a  Conference, 
acquainted  the  Commons  "  3  with  their  reception  of  this  pardon 
and  petition,  and  they  were  read  in  both  Houses.  After  a 
very  short  debate,  the  Commons  declared  the  pardon  to  be 
of  no  effect,  as  the  king  had  not  the  power  of  pardoning  a 
prisoner  condemned  to  death  by  the  Parliament.  The  House 
of  Lords  agreed  to  the  alteration  in  the  mode  of  execution, 
and  to  his  receiving  the  ministrations  of  the  three  clergymen 
he  had  selected  ;  but  the  House  of  Commons  gave  a  point 
blank  refusal  to  the  petition  in  toto,  with  the  single  exception 
of  permitting  Dr  Stern  to  visit  the  prisoner,  provided  that  one, 
or  both,  of  two  "  Godly  Ministers  "  of  their  own  choosing 
were  invariably  present  while  Stern  was  with  him. 

Wednesday,  therefore,  must  have  been  a  miserable  day  to 
Laud  ;  there  were  only  forty-eight  hours,  or  less,  of  life  before 
him,  and  the  horrible  and  disgraceful  death  of  hanging,  being 
cut  down  while  yet  alive,  having  his  bowels  roughly  torn 

1  Clarendon,  "Hist.,"  vol.  iv.  pp.  573-4. 
2  Rushworth,  par.  3,  vol.  ii.  p.  834.  3  Ib. 

456 


645 


']  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  457 


out  by  the  executioner  and  burned  before  his  eyes,  if  he 
should  have  life  enough  left  in  him  to  see  it  done,  and  then 
to  have  his  naked  body  hacked  to  pieces,  as  if  it  were  that  of 
a  pig  in  the  hands  of  a  butcher,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense 
crowd,  was  the  prospect  before  him  at  the  end  of  it.  In  the 
meantime,  there  would  be  a  canting,  covenanting,  "  uncon- 
formable  "  minister  in  his  room,  whenever  he  wished  to  con 
fess  to,  or  receive  spiritual  comfort  from,  his  own  chaplain. 

He  made,  however,  another  attempt  to  soften  the  rigour  of 
his  sentence,  by  sending  a  petition  to  the  Parliament,  praying 
that,  as  a  divine,  as  a  bishop,  as  one  who  had  had  the  honour 
of  sitting  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  of  being  a  member  of 
the  king's  most  Honourable  Privy  Council,  he  might  not  be 
exposed  to  such  an  ignominious  death,  and  that  he  might  die 
at  the  block.  On  the  Thursday,  within  four-and-twenty 
hours  of  his  execution,  to  his  great  relief  he  was  told  that  the 
Commons  had  relented,  and  that,  instead  of  being  hanged, 
drawn,  and  quartered,  he  would  have  his  head  cut  off  on  the 
following  morning.  He  spent  his  time,  during  the  interval, 
beyond  what  was  required  for  sleep  and  the  taking  of  food, 
partly  at  his  devotions,  and  partly  in  writing  out  a  speech 
which  he  intended  to  deliver  on  the  scaffold  ;  for  he  was  not 
only  anxious  to  say  the  right  thing  at  such  a  time,  which  he 
might  fail  to  do,  from  nervousness  or  distractions,  if  he  trusted 
himself  to  make  an  extempore  address,  but  also  to  be  able  to 
hand  to  his  chaplain  a  written  paper  containing  the  very 
words  he  had  used,  so  that  no  garbled  report  of  them  need  be 
tolerated.  It  was  a  sad  sermon  to  have  to  prepare  ;  but  he 
evidently  bestowed  very  great  care  and  trouble  upon  it. 

Heylin  says1:  —  "  So  well  was  he  studied  in  the  Art  of 
Dying  (especially  in  the  last  and  strictest  part  of  his  Im 
prisonment)  that  by  continual  Fastings,  Watchings,  Prayers, 
and  such  like  Acts  of  Christian  Humiliation,  his  Flesh  was 
rarified  into  Spirit,  and  the  whole  man  so  fitted  for  Eternal 
Glories,  that  he  was  more  than  half  in  Heaven,  before  Death 
brought  his  bloody  (but  Triumphant)  Chariot,  to  convey  him 
thither." 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  496. 


458  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

I  hope  that  it  may  have  been  so ;  but  it  is  not  always  easy 
for  the  biographer  of  Laud  to  steer  between  eulogiums  of 
this  kind  from  the  pen  of  Heylin  and  the  angry  abuses  of 
Prynne,  who  describes  the  "  transcendent  Hainousnesse "  of 
uthe  boldest  and  most  impudent  Oppressour  that  ever  was." 

The  warrant  for  his  execution  was  brought  to  the  Tower 
by  Sheriff  Chambers  on  the  evening  of  Thursday,  January 
9th.  He  now  devoted  himself  to  prayer,  and  begged  the 
prayers  of  others,  especially  those  of  Dr  Holdsworth,  who 
had  been  a  fellow  prisoner  in  the  Tower  for  a  year  and  a  half; 
although  they  had  had  no  intercourse  during  that  time. 

Shortly  before  his  fall  from  power,  Laud  had  shown  many 
symptoms  of  nervousness,  if  not  of  abject  fear  ;  but  throughout 
his  trial,  and  still  more  at  the  time  of  his  execution,  although 
worn  out  with  anxiety  and  sorrow,  he  displayed  admirable 
courage. 

On  the  Thursday  evening,  says  Heylin,1  "  after  he  had  re 
freshed  his  Spirits  with  a  moderate  Supper,  he  betook  himself 
unto  his  Rest,  and  slept  very  soundly,  till  the  time  came,  in 
which  his  Servants  were  appointed  to  attend  his  rising.  A 
most  assured  sign  of  a  Soul  prepared."  This,  I  venture  to 
think,  is  a  somewhat  bold  assertion  ;  for  the  sleep  of  many  a 
modern  murderer,  on  the  night  preceding  his  execution,  has 
been  better  than,  at  least,  the  apparent  preparation  of  his 
soul. 

Laud  got  up  early  on  the  Friday  morning,  and,  as  might 
have  been  expected  when  he  had  only  a  few  hours  to  live, 
began  his  prayers.  Perhaps  Mr  Benson  may  be  right  in  say 
ing  2 : — "  I  do  not  think  we  are  justified  in  saying  more  than 
that  he  was  a  prayerful  man,  but  more  liturgical ly  than  con 
templatively.  I  do  not  think  he  went  to  his  prayers  for  light 
and  leading,"  "  but  that  he  looked  upon  them  as  a  bounden 
duty  and  as  a  source  of  comfort."  The  prospect  of  immediate 
execution,  however,  is  said  to  be  a  wonderful  stimulant  to 
devotion  when  a  man  has  any  faith  at  all. 

It  was  observed  that  the  day  of  Laud's  death,  the  tenth  of 
January,  was  the  feast  day  of  his  namesake,  William  (Saint 

1  "Cyp.  Ang.,"p.  496.  -  P.  207. 


45']  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  459 

William),  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  who  had  fought  as  zealously 
against  the  Albigenses  as  Laud  had  fought  against  the 
Puritans  and  Covenanters  ; l  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  the 
fact  that  the  French  William,  Archbishop,  was  a  remarkably 
devoted  servant  to  the  Pope,  and  that,  unlike  the  English 
William,  "  he  refused  to  have  recourse  to  the  civil  power 
against"  "impenitent  sinners."1 

Laud  continued  in  prayer  until  Pennington,  the  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower,  accompanied  by  other  officers,  came  to  conduct 
him  to  the  place  of  execution  on  Tower  Hill.  The  distance 
to  be  walked  was  not  very  great,  perhaps  between  two  and 
three  hundred  yards  in  all  ;  but  it  may  have  seemed  quite 
long  enough  when,  after  passing  through  the  gates,  beyond 
the  precincts  of  the  Tower,  and  turning  to  the  right,  the  pro 
cession  wended  its  way  amidst  the  dense  crowd  assembled  to 
see  the  execution.  Any  sort  of  execution  is  a  pleasure  to  a 
mob,  and  to  see  the  head  of  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
chopped  off  was  a  treat  to  look  upon  for  which,  what  modern 
reporters  call,  "  every  coign  of  vantage,"  would  be  eagerly 
seized. 

As  Laud  paced  slowly  on,  surrounded  by  officials  and 
soldiers,  through  the  tightly  packed  mass  of  spectators,  "  some 
rude  and  uncivil  People  reviled  him  as  he  pass'd  along,  with 
opprobrious  Language,  as  loth  to  let  him  go  to  the  Grave  in 
Peace  ;  yet  it  never  discomposed  his  Thoughts,  nor  disturbed 
his  Patience."  3 

The  outward  surroundings,  apart  from  his  guard  with  their 
pikes  and  the  soldiers  with  their  muskets,  must  have  looked 
far  less  stern  than  the  thick  walls  and  embattlements  of  the 
Tower  in  which  he  had  been  imprisoned  for  some  years, 
and  the  row  of  ordinary  houses,  with  their  pointed  gables, 
which  we  find  represented  in  most  old  pictures  of  Tower  Hill, 
would  give  a  peaceful  and  civilian  appearance  to  the  unen 
closed  piece  of  ground  to  which  the  party  was  progressing  on 
that  fine  January  morning  ;  but  presently  an  ugly,  square 
erection,  with  a  single  railing  round  it, 'came  into  view,  and 

1  Benson,  p.  158.  -  Butler's  "Lives  of  the  Saints,"  vol.  i.,  January  10. 

*  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  496. 


460  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Laud  saw  before  him  the  scaffold  and  the  block.  Within  six 
weeks  that  scaffold  was  erected  for  no  less  than  five  execu 
tions — Sir  Alexander  Carew's,  the  Hothams'  (father  and 
son),  Laud's,  and  Lord  Maguire's. 

Poor  old  fellow  !  He  walked  with  great  courage  up  to  the 
forbidding  structure,  ascended  the  steps,  and  stood  upon  the 
boarded  floor.  "As  he  did  not  fear  the  frowns,"  says 
Heylin,1  "  so  neither  did  he  covet  the  Applause  of  the  Vulgar 
Herd ;  and  therefore  rather  chose  to  read  what  he  had  to 
speak  unto  the  People,  than  to  affect  the  ostentation  either 
of  Memory  or  Wit  in  that  dreadful  Agony ;  whether  with 
greater  Magnanimity  than  Prudence,  I  can  hardly  say.  As 
for  the  matter  of  his  Speech,  besides  what  did  concern  him 
self  and  his  own  Purgation,  his  great  care  was  to  cleer  his 
Majesty,  and  the  Church  of  England,  from  any  inclination  to 
Popery." 

As  Laud's  speech  on  the  scaffold  is  long,  I  shall  take  the 
liberty  of  quoting  Mr  Benson's  rendering  of  it  into  modern 
spelling. 

"  '  Good  People,  this  is  an  uncomfortable  time  to  preach  ; 
yet  I  shall  begin  with  a  text  of  Scripture,  Hebrews  xii.  2, 
"  Let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us  ; 
looking  unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  faith, 
Who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  Him  endured  the  Cross, 
despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
throne  of  God." 

"  '  I  have  been  long  in  my  race  ;  and  how  I  have  looked 
unto  Jesus,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  my  faith,  He  best 
knows.  I  am  now  come  to  the  end  of  my  race,  and  here  I 
find  the  Cross,  a  death  of  shame.  But  the  shame  must  be 
despised,  or  no  coming  to  the  right  hand  of  God.  Jesus 
despised  the  shame  for  me,  and  God  forbid  that  I  should  not 
despise  the  shame  for  Him. 

"  '  I  am  going  apace,  as  you  see,  towards  the  Red  Sea,  and 
my  feet  are  upon  the  very  brink  of  it  :  an  argument,  I  hope, 
that  God  is  bringing  me  into  the  Land  of  Promise ;  for  that 
was  the  way  through  which  He  led  His  people. 

1  "Gyp.  Ang./'p.  496. 


Srt?a7i'.645']  Life  of  A  rchbiskop  Laud.  46 1 

" '  But  before  they  came  to  it,  He  instituted  a  passover  for 
them.  A  lamb  it  was  ;  but  it  must  be  eaten  with  sour  herbs. 
I  shall  obey,  and  labour  to  digest  the  sour  herbs,  as  well  as 
the  lamb.  And  I  shall  remember  it  is  the  Lord's  passover. 
I  shall  not  think  of  the  herbs,  nor  be  angry  with  the  hands 
that  gather  them  ;  but  look  up  only  to  Him  who  instituted 
that,  and  governs  these  :  for  men  can  have  no  more  power 
over  me  than  what  is  given  them  from  above. 

" '  I  am  not  in  love  with  this  passage  through  the  Red  Sea, 
for  I  have  the  weakness  and  infirmity  of  flesh  and  blood 
plentifully  in  me.  And  I  have  prayed  with  my  Saviour, 
Ut  transiret  calix  iste,  that  this  cup  of  red  wine  might  pass 
from  me.  But  if  not,  God's  will,  not  mine,  be  done.  And 
I  shall  most  willingly  drink  of  this  cup  as  deep  as  He  pleases, 
and  enter  into  this  sea,  yea,  and  pass  through  it,  in  the  way 
that  He  shall  lead  me. 

" '  But  I  would  have  it  remembered,  good  people,  that  when 
God's  servants  were  in  this  boisterous  sea,  and  Aaron  among 
them,  the  Egyptians  which  persecuted  them,  and  did  in  a 
manner  drive  them  into  that  sea,  were  drowned  in  the  same 
waters,  while  they  were  in  pursuit  of  them. 

" '  I  know  my  God,  Whom  I  serve,  is  as  able  to  deliver 
me  from  the  sea  of  blood,  as  He  was  to  deliver  the  Three 
Children  from  the  furnace.  And  (I  most  humbly  thank  my 
Saviour  for  it)  my  resolution  is  as  theirs  was :  they  would 
not  worship  the  image  which  the  king  had  set  up,  nor  will 
I  the  imaginations  which  the  people  are  setting  up.  Nor 
will  I  forsake  the  temple  and  the  truth  of  God,  to  follow  the 
bleating  of  Jeroboam's  calves  in  Dan  and  in  Bethel. 

" '  And  as  for  this  people,  they  are  at  this  day  miserably 
misled  :  God  in  His  mercy  open  their  eyes,  that  they  may  see 
the  right  way.  For  at  this  day  the  blind  lead  the  blind  ;  and 
if  they  go  on,  both  will  certainly  fall  into  the  ditch. 

" '  For  myself,  I  am  (and  I  acknowledge  it  in  all  humility) 
a  most  grievous  sinner  many  ways — by  thought,  word,  and 
deed  ;  and  yet  I  cannot  doubt  but  that  God  hath  mercy  in 
store  for  me,  a  poor  penitent,  as  well  as  for  other  sinners.  I 
have  now,  upon  this  sad  occasion,  ransacked  every  corner  of 


462  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud. 

my  heart  ;  and  yet  I  thank  God  I  have  not  found  among  the 
many,  any  one  sin  which  deserves  death  by  any  known  law 
of  this  kingdom. 

'"And  yet  hereby  I  charge  nothing  upon  my  judges  :  for 
if  they  proceed  upon  proof  by  valuable  witnesses,  I  or  any 
other  innocent  may  be  justly  condemned.  And  I  thank 
God,  though  the  weight  of  the  sentence  lie  heavy  upon  me, 
I  am  as  quiet  within  as  ever  T  was  in  my  life. 

" '  And  though  I  am  not  only  the  first  Archbishop,  but  the 
first  man,  that  ever  died  by  an  Ordinance  in  Parliament,  yet 
some  of  my  predecessors  have  gone  this  way,  though  not  by 
this  means :  for  Elphegus  was  hurried  away  and  lost  his 
head  by  the  Danes  ;  Simon  Sudbury  in  the  fury  of  Wat 
Tyler  and  his  fellows.  Before  these,  St  John  the  Baptist  had 
his  head  danced  off  by  a  lewd  woman  ;  and  St  Cyprian, 
Archbishop  of  Carthage,  submitted  his  head  to  a  persecuting 
sword.  Many  examples  great  and  good  ;  and  they  teach  me 
patience.  For  I  hope  my  cause  in  heaven  will  look  of 
another  dye,  than  the  colour  that  is  put  upon  it  here. 

"  'And  some  comfort  it  is  to  me,  not  only  that  I  go  the  way 
of  these  great  men  in  their  several  generations,  but  also  that 
my  charge,  as  foul  as  it  is  made,  looks  like  that  of  the  Jews 
against  St  Paul  (Acts  xxv.  8)  ;  for  he  was  accused  for  the 
law  and  the  temple,  i.e.  religion  ;  and  like  that  of  St  Stephen 
(Acts  vi.  14)  for  breaking  the  ordinances  which  Moses  gave, 
i.e.  law  and  religion,  the  holy  place  and  the  law  (verse  13). 

"  But  you  will  say,  Do  I  then  compare  myself  with  the 
integrity  of  St  Paul  and  St  Stephen  ?  No  :  far  be  that  from 
me.  I  only  raise  a  comfort  to  myself,  that  these  great  saints 
and  servants  of  God  were  laid  at  in  their  times,  as  I  am  now. 
And  it  is  memorable  that  St  Paul,  who  helped  on  this 
accusation  against  St  Stephen,  did  after  fall  under  the  very 
same  himself. 

"  '  Yes,  but  here  is  a  great  clamour  that  I  would  have 
brought  in  Popery.  I  shall  answer  that  more  fully  by  and 
by.  In  the  mean  time,  you  know  what  the  Pharisees  laid 
against  Christ  Himself,  "  If  we  let  Him  alone,  all  men  will 
believe  on  Him  etvenient  Romani,  and  the  Romans  will  come, 


Srtca7I'645']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  463 

and  take  away  both  our  place  and  nation."  Here  was  a 
causeless  cry  against  Christ,  that  the  Romans  would  come  : 
and  see  how  just  the  judgment  of  God  was.  They  crucified 
Christ  for  fear  lest  the  Romans  should  come  ;  and  His  death 
was  it  which  brought  in  the  Romans  upon  them,  God  punish 
ing  them  with  that  which  they  most  feared.  And  I  pray  God 
this  clamour  of  vcnient  Romani  (of  which  I  have  given  no 
cause)  help  not  to  bring  them  in.  For  the  Pope  never  had 
such  an  harvest  in  England  since  the  Reformation,  as  he  hath 
now  upon  the  sects  and  divisions  that  are  amongst  us.  In 
the  mean  time,  "  by  honour  and  dishonour,  by  good  report 
and  evil  report,  as  a  deceiver  and  yet  true,"  am  I  passing 
through  this  world. 

"  '  Some  particulars  also  I  think  it  not  amiss  to  speak  of. 

"*i.  And  first,  this  I  shall  be  bold  to  speak  of  the  King, 
our  gracious  Sovereign.  He  hath  been  much  traduced  also 
for  bringing  in  of  Popery  ;  but  on  my  conscience  (of  which 
I  shall  give  God  a  present  account),  I  know  him  to  be  as 
free  from  this  charge  as  any  man  living.  And  I  hold  him  to 
be  as  sound  a  Protestant,  according  to  the  religion  by  law 
established,  as  any  man  in  the  kingdom  ;  and  that  he  will 
venture  his  life  as  far  and  as  freely  for  it.  And  I  think  I  do 
or  should  know  both  his  affection  to  religion,  and  his  grounds 
for  it,  as  fully  as  any  man  in  England. 

"'2.  The  second  particular  is  concerning  this  great  and 
populous  city  (which  God  bless).  Here  hath  been  of  late  a 
fashion  taken  up  to  gather  hands,  and  then  go  to  the  great 
court  of  the  kingdom,  the  Parliament,  and  clamour  for 
justice;  as  if  that  great  and  wise  court,  before  whom  the 
causes  come  which  are  unknown  to  the  many,  could  not  or 
would  not  do  justice  but  at  their  appointment ;  a  way  which 
may  endanger  many  an  innocent  man,  and  pluck  his  blood 
upon  their  own  heads,  and  perhaps  upon  the  city's  also. 

"  'And  this  hath  been  lately  practised  against  myself;  the 
magistrates  standing  still,  and  suffering  them  openly  to  pro 
ceed  from  parish  to  parish  without  check.  God  forgive  the 
setters  of  this  ;  with  all  my  heart  I  beg  it :  but  many  well- 
meaning  people  are  caught  by  it. 


464  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [SSy.645' 

"  '  In  St  Stephen's  case,  when  nothing  else  would  serve, 
they  stirred  up  the  people  against  him  (Acts  vi.  12).  And 
Herod  went  the  same  way  :  when  he  had  killed  St  James, 
yet  he  would  not  venture  upon  St  Peter,  till  he  found  how 
the  other  pleased  the  people  (Acts  xii.  3). 

" '  But  take  heed  of  having  your  hands  full  of  blood  (Isai. 
i.  15) ;  for  there  is  a  time  best  known  to  Himself,  when  God, 
above  other  sins,  makes  inquisition  for  blood.  And  when 
that  inquisition  is  on  foot,  the  Psalmist  tells  us  that  God 
remembers  ;  but  that  is  not  all :  He  remembers,  and  forgets 
not  the  complaint  of  the  poor,  i.e.  whose  blood  is  shed  by 
oppression. 

"  *  Take  heed  of  this  :  "  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  living  God  "  ;  but  then  especially  when  He  is 
making  inquisition  for  blood.  And  with  my  prayers  to 
avert  it,  I  do  heartily  desire  this  city  to  remember  the 
prophecy  that  is  expressed  in  Jer.  xxvi.  15. 

"  *  3.  The  third  particular  is,  the  poor  Church  of  England. 
It  hath  flourished,  and  been  a  shelter  to  other  neighbouring 
Churches,  when  storms  have  driven  upon  them.  But,  alas  ! 
now  it  is  in  a  storm  itself  and  God  only  knows  whether  or 
how  it  shall  get  out.  And,  which  is  worse  than  a  storm 
from  without,  it  is  become  like  an  oak  cleft  to  shivers  with 
wedges  made  out  of  its  own  body  ;  and  at  every  cleft,  pro- 
faneness  and  irreligion  is  entering  in.  While  (as  Prosper 
says)  men  that  introduce  profaneness  are  cloked  over  with 
the  name  religionis  iuiaginarice,  of  imaginary  religion  ;  for 
we  have  lost  the  substance,  and  dwell  too  much  in  opinion. 
And  that  Church,  which  all  the  Jesuits'  machinations  could 
not  ruin,  is  fallen  into  danger  by  her  own. 

"'4.  The  last  particular  (for  I  am  not  willing  to  be  too 
long)  is  myself.  I  was  born  and  baptised  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Church  of  England,  established  by  law :  in  that 
profession  I  have  ever  since  lived,  and  in  that  I  come  now 
to  die. 

" '  What  clamours  and  slanders  I  have  endured  for  labour 
ing  to  keep  an  uniformity  in  the  external  service  of  God, 
according  to  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  this  Church,  all 


Lije  Of  Archbishop  Laud.  465 

men  know,  and  I  have  abundantly  felt.  Now  at  last  I  am 
accused  of  high  treason  in  Parliament,  a  crime  which  my 
soul  ever  abhorred.  This  treason  was  charged  to  consist 
of  two  parts — an  endeavour  to  subvert  the  laws  of  the  land  ; 
and  a  like  endeavour  to  overthrow  the  true  Protestant 
religion,  established  by  law. 

" '  Besides  my  answers  to  the  several  charges,  I  protested 
mine  innocency  in  both  Houses.  It  was  said,  Prisoners' 
protestations  at  the  bar  must  not  be  taken.  I  must,  there 
fore,  come  now  to  it  upon  my  death,  being  instantly  to 
give  God  an  account  for  the  truth  of  it. 

" '  I  do  therefore  here,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  His 
holy  Angels,  take  it  upon  my  death,  that  I  never  endea 
voured  the  subversion  either  of  law  or  religion.  And  I 
desire  you  all  to  remember  this  protest  of  mine  for  my 
innocency  in  this,  and  from  all  treasons  whatsoever. 

"  '  I  have  been  accused  likewise  as  an  enemy  of  Parliaments. 
No  ;  I  understand  them,  and  the  benefit  that  comes  by  them, 
too  well  to  be  so.  But  I  did  dislike  the  misgovernments 
of  some  Parliaments  many  ways,  and  I  had  good  reason 
for  it ;  for  corruptio  optiini  est  pessima.  And  that  being 
the  highest  court,  over  which  no  other  hath  jurisdiction, 
when  it  is  misinformed  or  misgoverned,  the  subject  is  left 
without  all  remedy. 

" '  But  I  have  done.  I  forgive  all  the  world,  all  and 
every  of  those  bitter  enemies  which  have  persecuted  me ; 
and  humbly  desire  to  be  forgiven  of  God  first,  and  then 
of  every  man.  And  so  I  heartily  desire  you  to  join  in 
prayer  with  me. 

"  *  O  eternal  God  and  merciful  Father,  look  down  upon 
me  in  mercy,  in  the  riches  and  fulness  of  all  Thy  mercies. 
Look  upon  me,  but  not  till  Thou  hast  nailed  my  sins  to 
the  Cross  of  Christ,  not  till  Thou  hast  bathed  me  in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  not  till  I  have  hid  myself  in  the  wounds 
of  Christ ;  that  so  the  punishment  due  unto  my  sins  may 
pass  over  me.  And  since  Thou  art  pleased  to  try  me  to 
the  uttermost,  I  most  humbly  beseech  Thee,  give  me  now, 
in  this  great  instant,  full  patience,  proportionable  comfort, 

2  G 


466  L  ife  of  A  rchbishop  Laud.  [grt?a7Il645> 

and  a  heart  ready  to  die  for  Thine  honour,  the  King's 
happiness,  and  this  Church's  preservation.  And  my  zeal 
to  these  (far  from  arrogancy  be  it  spoken)  is  all  the  sin 
(human  frailty  excepted,  and  all  incidents  thereto)  which  is 
yet  known  to  me  in  this  particular,  for  which  I  come  now  to 
suffer;  I  say,  in  this  particular  of  treason.  But  otherwise, 
my  sins  are  many  and  great.  Lord,  pardon  them  all,  and 
those  especially  (whatever  they  are)  which  have  drawn  down 
this  present  judgment  upon  me.  And  when  Thou  hast  given 
me  strength  to  bear  it,  do  with  me  as  seems  best  in  Thine 
own  eyes.  Amen. 

" '  And  that  there  may  be  a  stop  of  this  issue  of  blood 
in  this  more  than  miserable  kingdom,  O  Lord,  I  beseech 
Thee  give  grace  of  repentance  to  all  blood-thirsty  people. 
But  if  they  will  not  repent,  O  Lord,  confound  all  their 
devices,  defeat  and  frustrate  all  their  designs  and  endea 
vours  upon  them,  which  are  or  shall  be  contrary  to  the 
glory  of  Thy  great  Name,  the  truth  and  sincerity  of 
religion,  the  establishment  of  the  King,  and  his  posterity 
after  him,  in  their  just  rights  and  privileges ;  the  honour 
and  conservation  of  Parliaments  in  their  just  power;  the 
preservation  of  this  poor  Church  in  her  truth,  peace,  and 
patrimony ;  and  the  settlement  of  this  distracted  and  dis 
tressed  people,  under  their  ancient  laws,  and  in  their  native 
liberties.  And  when  Thou  hast  done  all  this  in  mere 
mercy  for  them,  O  Lord,  fill  their  hearts  with  thankful 
ness,  and  with  religious  dutiful  obedience  to  Thee  and 
Thy  commandments  all  their  days.  So,  Amen,  Lord  Jesu, 
amen.  •  And  receive  my  soul  into  Thy  bosom.  Amen. 

" '  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  Thy 
Name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth, 
As  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread. 
And  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  As  we  forgive  them  that 
trespass  against  us.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation  ; 
But  deliver  us  from  evil :  For  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and 
the  power,  and  the  glory,  For  ever  and  ever.  Amen.' " 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

ONE  feature  of  Laud's  speech  upon  the  scaffold  deserves 
especial  attention,  and  that  is  the  manner  in  which  he  said  all 
he  could  in  favour  of  his  king,  and  endeavoured,  if  possible, 
to  save  him.  His  conduct,  in  this  matter,  towards  Charles 
contrasts  very  favourably  with  Charles's  towards  himself  from 
the  time  of  his  arrest.  I  am  not  imputing  any  blame  to  the 
king  in  respect  to  the  actual  execution,  which  he  was  power 
less  to  prevent  at  the  time  it  occurred  ;  for  Laud  was  then  in 
the  hands  of  the  Parliament,  with  whom  Charles  was  at  war ; 
but,  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  archbishop's  imprisonment,  it  is 
not  unfair  to  think  that  he  might  have  made  greater  efforts 
on  his  behalf.  Again,  even  if  it  were  impossible  that  he 
could  do  anything  to  save  him,  it  might  have  been  expected 
that  we  should  find  some  records  of  communications  and 
kind  offices  between  two  men  who  had  been  such  intimate 
friends,  even  if  it  might  have  been  a  dangerous  step  for 
Charles  to  visit  Laud  personally  in  the  Tower.  Let  all 
credit  be  paid  to  the  king's  memory  for  sending  his  old 
servant  a  free  (and,  as  it  proved,  useless)  pardon  ;  but  it 
would  have  been  pleasanter  to  have  read  of  other  acts  of 
kindness  and  recognition  besides  this.  Not  a  word,  on  the 
other  hand,  can  be  said  against  the  faithfulness  of  Laud  to 
his  master,  and  at  the  very  last  he  made  a  valiant  defence 
of  his  king's  Protestantism  and  freedom  from  Popery — his 
"  gracious  Sovereign,"  who  "  hath  been  much  traduced  also 
for  bringing  in  of  Popery  "  ;  but  on  his  conscience,  of  which 
he  is  on  the  very  point  of  giving  an  account,  he  knows  him 
"  to  be  as  free  from  this  charge  as  any  man  living,"  and  holds 
"  him  to  be  as  sound  a  Protestant,  according  to  religion  by 
law  established,  as  any  man  in  the  Kingdom,"  feeling  certain 
that  he  would  "  venture  his  life  as  far  and  as  freely  for  it." 

467 


468  Life  of  Archbishop  Laiid. 

Perhaps,  in  his  prayer,  we  cannot  altogether  defend  Laud 
from  what  is  vulgarly  called  "  playing  to  the  gallery,"  when 
he  beseeches  God  to  give  repentance  "  to  all  blood-thirsty 
people,"  and,  if  they  will  not  repent,  "  to  confound  all  their 
devices,"  and  "  defeat  and  frustrate  all  their  designs  and  en 
deavours  " ;  and  again,  when  he  prays  for  "  this  distracted 
and  distressed  people,"  and  tells  his  Maker  confidentially 
that  he  is  not  guilty  of  treason.  All  this  was  carefully 
written  out  beforehand,  and  was  probably  intended  partly  for 
God  and  partly  for  the  mob. 

When  he  had  finished  reading  his  speech,  Laud  handed  it 
to  his  chaplain,  Dr  Sterne,  and  observing  that  a  man,  named 
Hinde,  had  kept  taking  notes  of  it  as  he  uttered  it,  he  begged 
him  to  let  him  have  no  wrong  done  him  by  the  publication  of 
an  imperfect  edition.  "  Sir,"  replied  Hinde,  "  you  shall  not. 
If  I  do  so,  let  it  fall  upon  my  own  head.  I  pray  God  have 
mercy  upon  your  soul."  "  I  thank  you,"  answered  Laud. 
"  I  did  not  speak  with  any  jealousy  as  if  you  would  do 
so,  but  only,  as  a  poor  man  going  out  of  the  world,  it  is  not 
possible  for  me  to  keep  to  the  words  of  my  paper,  and  a 
phrase  might  do  me  wrong." * 

He  then  began  to  prepare  himself  for  the  axe,  and  as  he 
took  off  his  coat  he  said  : — "  I  will  put  off  my  doublets,  and 
God's  will  be  done.  I  am  willing  to  go  out  of  the  world  ;  no 
man  can  be  more  willing  to  send  me  out,  than  I  am  willing 
to  be  gone." 

A  great  many  officials  and  others  had  been  allowed  to 
come  on  to  the  scaffold,  and  they  had  the  bad  taste  so  to 
press  round  the  archbishop,  to  see  how  he  was  bearing  up, 
that  he  had  scarcely  sufficient  room  to  disrobe  himself; 
whereupon  he  begged  that  he  might  at  least  have  space 
enough  given  him  for  his  death.  "  I  thought,"  "  there  would 
have  been  an  empty  scaffold,  that  I  might  have  had  room  to 
die.  I  beseech  you  let  me  have  an  end  of  this  misery,  for  I 
have  endured  it  long,"  said  he. 

A  space  was  then  cleared  immediately  round  him.  This 
enabled  him  to  see  the  boards  of  the  scaffold,  when,  to  his 

1  Benson,  p.  151. 


area  i645.]  £ife  of  Archbishop  Laud.  469 

annoyance,  he  perceived,  on  looking  down  through  the  chinks 
between  them,  that,  in  addition  to  the  people  upon  the  plat 
form,  there  were  others  beneath  it,  even  almost  under  the  very 
block  itself,  who  probably  hoped  thereby  to  have  a  choice  view 
of  some  of  the  more  ghastly  details  of  the  execution.  He 
begged  that  either  the  spaces  between  the  boards  might  be 
filled  up,  or  that  the  people  beneath  the  scaffold  might  be  re 
moved,  "  Lest  my  innocent  blood  should  fall  upon  the  heads 
of  the  people,"  said  he. 

In  the  meantime,  the  crowd  kept  jeering  at  the  disgraced 
archbishop,  who  took  no  notice  whatever  of  the  uproar ;  but 
a  certain  Sir  John  Clotworthy,  an  Irishman,  determined  to 
worry  the  poor  victim  at  the  point  of  death.  He  had 
succeeded  in  obtaining  admission  to  the  scaffold,  and, 
standing  close  to  Laud,  he  said : — "  What  is  the  comfort- 
ablest  saying  which  a  dying  man  would  have  in  his  mouth  ? " 
"  Cnpio  dissolvi  et  esse  cum  Christo"  answered  Laud.  "  That 
is  a  good  desire,"  went  on  Sir  John,  "but  there  must  be  a 
foundation  for  that  divine  assurance " ;  to  which  Laud 
replied:  —  "No  man  can  express  it;  it  is  to  be  found 
within."  The  Irishman  was  not  yet  satisfied.  "It  is 
founded  upon  a  word,"  said  he,  "  and  that  word  should 
be  known."  "That  word,"  responded  Laud,  "is  the  know 
ledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  alone."1  But  he  saw  that 
the  man  had  not  done ;  so  "  he  turned  away  to  the  execu 
tioner,  as  the  gentler  and  discreeter  person  ;  and,  putting 
some  money  into  his  hand,  without  the  least  distemper  or 
change  of  countenance,  said,  '  Here,  honest  friend,  God  for 
give  thee,  and  do  thine  office  upon  me  with  mercy.' " 

Then  he  knelt  down,  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  done  so,  the 
executioner  asked  him  to  give  him  a  signal  when  to  strike. 
He  replied  that  the  sign  should  be  his  using  the  word,  "Lord, 
receive  my  soul  "  ;  but  "  first,"  said  he,  "  let  me  fit  myself." 

Kneeling  opposite  the  block,  but  not  leaning  down  upon 
it,  he  prayed  as  follows  : — 

"  Lord,  I  am  coming  as  fast  as  I  can.  I  know  I  must 
pass  through  the  shadow  of  death,  before  I  can  come  to  see 

1  Benson,  pp.  152-3. 


470  Life  of  Archbishop  Land.  [St?a7il645' 

Thee.  But  it  is  but  umbra  mortis,  a  mere  shadow  of  death, 
a  little  darkness  upon  nature :  but  Thou  by  Thy  merits  and 
passions  hast  broke  through  the  jaws  of  death.  So,  Lord, 
receive  my  soul,  and  have  mercy  upon  me ;  and  bless  this 
kingdom  with  peace  and  plenty,  and  with  brotherly  love 
and  chanty,  that  there  may  not  be  this  effusion  of  Christian 
blood  amongst  them,  for  Jesus  Christ  His  sake,  if  it  be  Thy 
will." 

Having  said  this  prayer  loudly  enough  for  those  standing 
near  him  to  hear,  he  bent  down  and  fitted  his  neck  on  to  the 
block.  Then  he  prayed  for  a  short  time  ("  to  himself,"  as 
Heylin  expresses  it1),  inaudibly,  and  presently  said  aloud, 
" Lord  receive  my  Soul"  when,  immediately,  "the  Executioner, 
who  very  dexterously  did  his  Office,"  "  took  off  his  head  at  a 
blow." 

His  body  was  put  into  a  leaden  coffin  and  carried  to  the 
Church  of  All  Hallows,  Barking,  which  was  close  to  the 
scene  of  the  execution.  A  large  number  of  people  accom 
panied  it,  and  at  its  burial  the  liturgy,  which  had  just  been 
abolished,  was  duly  used.  Therefore,  his  very  funeral  itself 
was  an  act  of  high  treason.  His  body  lay  in  the  church  of 
All  Hallows,  at  Barking,  for  about  eighteen  years,  and  was 
then — it  was  after  the  Restoration — removed  to  the  chapel  of 
his  dearly  beloved  St  John's  College,  Oxford,  where  it  was 
placed  beneath  the  communion-table.2 

Malicious  people  said  that  he  had  purposely  painted  his 
face,  on  the  morning  of  his  execution,  in  order  to  prevent 
his  paleness  making  him  look  as  if  he  feared  death.  This, 
explains  his  great  biographer,  was  a  base  calumny;  there 
was  no  paint  whatever  on  his  face,  and  yet  it  sustained  its 
ruddiness  even  until  he  knelt  at  the  block  itself.  Very 
probably  ;  but  it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  eczema,  which  would  give  a  colour  more  per 
manent  than  paint.  Heylin  describes  3  his  countenance  as 
"chearful  and  well-bloudied,  more  fleshly,  (as  I  have  often 
heard  him  say)  than  any  other  part  of  his  body." 

1  "  Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  503.  2  Benson,  p.  156  ;  also  Heylin. 

3  "Cyp.  Ang.,"  p.  507. 


45']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  47 1 

Laud's  death  presented  the  ghastly  and  horrible  comedy 
of  the  execution  of  a  man  for  spreading  and  encouraging  a 
religion  in  which  he  did  not  believe,  and  against  which  he 
had  perpetually  protested.  From  a  Catholic  point  of  view, 
he  had  the  honour  of  martyrdom  thrust  upon  him,  and  its 
merits  offered  him,  only  to  suffer  its  pains  without  obtaining 
its  merits ;  as  he  died  abusing  the  faith  for  which  he  was  put 
to  death. 

It  is  not  improbable  that,  at  this  point  of  my  story,  non- 
Catholic  readers  may  feel  some  curiosity  as  to  the  opinion 
of  a  Roman  Catholic  biographer  upon  the  question  of  the 
destination  of  Laud's  soul,  when  the  fatal  axe  had  severed 
his  head  from  his  body. 

Our  theologians  would,  I  believe,  say,  that  granted  the  very 
worst  interpretation  of  Laud's  life, — an  interpretation  which 
I,  for  one,  am  not  in  the  very  least  inclined  to  put  upon  it— 
from  the  Catholic  standpoint  it  would  be  possible,  I  do  not 
say  probable,  that  during  the  fraction  of  a  second  in  which 
the  sharp-edged  iron  was  falling  through  the  air,  he  might 
have  made  such  a  perfect  act  of  contrition  as  to  save  his  soul; 

"  Between  the  saddle  and  the  ground 
He  mercy  sought  and  mercy  found." 

but,  without  supposing  such  an  extreme  case  as  this,  there 
is  a  far  more  likely  issue.  I  may  convey  my  meaning 
by  making  the  following  quotation  from  a  book  which 
the  late  Cardinal  Manning  wrote  of  as  "  one  of  the  most 
complete  and  useful  Manuals  of  Doctrine,  Devotion,  and 
Elementary  information  for  the  instruction  of  those  who 
are  seeking  the  truth ;  and  not  for  them  only,  but  for 
those  who  have  inherited  it."  In  a  chapter  headed 
"Things  that  Catholics  do  not  believe,"  the  author  writes: 
— "  Catholics  do  not  believe  that  Protestants  who  are  bap 
tized,  who  lead  a  good  life,  love  God  and  their  neigh 
bour,  and  are  blamelessly  ignorant  of  the  just  claims  of  the 
Catholic  Religion  to  be  the  only  one  true  Religion  (which 
is  called  being  in  good  faith],  are  excluded  from  Heaven,  pro 
vided  they  believe  that  there  is  one  God  in  three  Divine 


472  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

persons  ; l  that  God  will  duly  reward  the  good  and  punish 
the  wicked  ;  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  made  man  ; 
who  redeemed  us,  and  in  whom  we  must  trust  for  our  salva 
tion  ;  and  provided  they  thoroughly  repent  of  having  ever, 
by  their  sins,  offended  God.  Catholics  hold  that  such  Pro 
testants  who  have  these  dispositions,  and,  moreover,  have  no 
suspicion  of  their  religion  being  false,  or  have  not  the  means 
to  discover,  or  fail  in  their  honest  endeavours  to  discover,  the 
true  Religion,  and  who  are  so  disposed  in  their  heart  that 
they  would  at  any  cost  embrace  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion 
if  they  knew  it  to  be  the  true  one,  are  Catholics  in  spirit  and 
in  some  sense  within  the  Catholic  Church,  without  themselves 
knowing  it.  She  holds  that  these  Christians  belong  to  and 
are  united  to  the  *  soul'  as  it  is  called,  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  although  they  are  not  united  to  the  visible  body  of  the 
Church  by  external  communion  with  her,  and  by  the  outward 
profession  of  her  faith."  2 

What  follows,  however,  must  be  given  its  due  measure  of 
serious  consideration.  "  Very  different  is  the  case  of  a  person 
who,  having  the  opportunity,  neglects  to  learn  from  genuine, 
trustworthy  sources  what  the  Catholic  Religion  is  and  really 
teaches,  fearing,  that  were  he  to  become  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  the  Catholic  Faith,  he  would  be  compelled  by  his  con 
science  to  forsake  his  own  religion  and  bear  the  worldly 
inconveniences  attached  to  this  step.  This  very  fear  shows  a 
want  of  good  faith,  and  that  he  is  not  in  that  insurmountable 
ignorance  which  could  excuse  him  in  the  sight  of  God,  but 
that  he  is  one  of  those  of  whom  it  is  said  in  Psalm  xxxv.  4, 
'  He  would  not  understand  that  he  might  do  well*  " 

Now  that  we  have  seen  Laud's  own  head  cut  off,  it  may  be 
well  to  consider  how  far  he  contributed  to  the  decapitation  of 
others.  There  appears  to  be  little  doubt  that  his  proceedings, 

1  A  footnote  says  : — "A  believer  in  one  God  who,   without  any  fault  on  his 
part,  does  not  know  and  believe  that  in  God  there  are  three  divine  Persons,  is, 
notwithstanding,  in  a  state  of  salvation,  according  to  the  opinion  of  most  Catholic 
theologians."     To  go  further  than  this  and  explain  the  reasons  given  by  theo 
logians  for  their  belief  in  the  salvation  of  "  the  honest  savage  "  would  be  beyond 
the  scope  of  a  Life  of  Laud. 

2  "  Catholic  Belief,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Di  Bruno,  pp.  219,  220. 


Stca7:645]  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  473 

and  more  still  his  advice,  led  to  events  which  brought  about, 
or  helped  to  bring  about,  the  executions  of  both  Charles  I. 
and  Stratford.  It  is  possible  that,  had  Laud  never  existed, 
they  might  none  the  less  have  met  their  deaths  in  the  same 
manner  and  under  similar  circumstances  ;  yet  it  is  difficult 
to  study  Laud's  relations  to  those  unfortunate  men  without 
coming  to  the  conclusion  that  his  friendship,  policy,  and 
advice  had  something  to  do  with  the  fall  of  both. 

Whether  Buckingham  would  have  become  a  victim  to  the 
spite  of  his  many  enemies,  if  he  had  not  died  from  the  blow 
of  an  assassin,  no  man  can  say  ;  if  he  had,  it  may  be  a  ques 
tion  whether  in  his  case,  also,  Laud  would  not  have  had  a 
share  in  increasing  his  unpopularity  and  effecting  his  over 
throw. 

Turning  from  individuals  to  institutions,  a  hostile  historian 
of  Laud  might  plausibly  argue  that,  by  encouraging  the  king 
to  dispense  with  a  Parliament,  by  urging  him  to  the  most 
arbitrary,  if  not  unjust,  actions,  and  by  causing  him  to  make 
enemies  among  his  nobility  and  gentry  with  severe  punish 
ments  for  offences  against  ecclesiastical  laws,  he  unintention 
ally  but  most  effectively  gave  a  blow  to  monarchical  govern 
ment  in  this  country  from  which  it  has  scarcely  yet  fully 
recovered.  I  am  not  myself  prepared  to  go  to  such  lengths 
in  criticising  his  secular  policy ;  but  I  should  hesitate  to 
accept  a  brief  on  the  opposite  side. 

As  to  the  institution  with  which  he  was  more  directly  con 
cerned,  the  Established  Church  of  his  country,  it  appears  to  me, 
as  an  outsider,  that  the  result  of  his  endeavours  was  to  bring 
the  whole  fabric  down  about  his  ears.  He  lived  to  see  the 
abolition  of  its  bishops,  as  well  as  that  of  its  liturgy,  and  its 
government  placed  in  the  hands  of  its  bitterest  enemies.  His 
Anglican  admirers  boast  that  it  grew  again  from  his  ashes 
to  a  greater  size  than  it  had  ever  attained  before,  and  that 
it  flourished  in  proportion  to  the  sacrifices  which  he  made  for 
it.1  It  would  appear,  according  to  this  theory,  that,  as  the 

1  "lie  obtained  hold  of  the  helm.  lie  gave  to  the  Anglican  polity  and  worship 
what  was  in  the  main  the  impress  of  his  own  mind.  He  then  sank  to  the  ground 
in  that  conflict  of  the  times,  which  he  had  made  and  helped  to  exasperate.  Hut 


474  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

Christian  Church  rose  in  all  its  greatness  from  the  death  of 
its  founder,  so  the  Established  Church  of  England  sprang  into 
a  new  and  more  vigorous  life  owing  to  the  death  of  Laud.  I 
venture  to  think  that  the  two  cases  are  not  exactly  parallel. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  Laud  reduced  his  Church  to  confusion  ; 
it  is,  at  best,  uncertain  whether  his  death  contributed  in  any 
perceptible  degree  to  its  resurrection.  Its  doctrinal  advance 
ment  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  due 
rather  to  Andrews  than  to  Laud  ;  its  restoration  in  the  latter 
half  of  that  century  was  to  a  large  extent  the  work  of  the 
temperate  and  judicious  Juxon. 

Again,  writing  as  an  outsider,  I  may  say  that  I  think  Laud 
certainly  did  do  one  thing  for  the  Church  of  England,  which 
was  to  demonstrate  the  dangers  of  its  authorities  assuming 
very  marked,  decided,  and  aggressive  religious  "  views,"  and 
it  may  be  that,  by  the  warning  of  his  sad  example,  he  practi 
cally  founded  that  race  of  moderate,  "safe,"  non-extreme, 
compromising,  and  colourless  bishops  for  which  his  Church 
has  been  so  celebrated  since  his  death. 

I  anticipate  that  in  addition  to  unfavourable  criticisms  on 
account  of  my  dulness  and  my  unblushing  practice  of  the 
literary  vice  commonly  described  as  u  book-making,"  I  shall 
incur  the  censures  of  High-Churchmen  for  representing  Laud's 
"  views  "  concerning  apostolical  succession  and  the  eucharist 
as  very  different  from  theirs.  My  defence  must  be  that,  from 
the  evidence  which  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  on  the  subject 
and  have  produced  in  the  foregoing  pages,  I  honestly  imagine 
them  to  have  been  so.  On  the  other  hand,  I  readily  admit 
that  I  am  not  very  conversant  with  the  High-Church  doc 
trines  of  this  particular  moment.  Moreover,  I  gratuitously 
volunteer  the  opinion  that,  had  Laud  lived  now,  it  is  not 
impossible  that  he  might  have  rejoiced  at  the  development 
of  ritualism  and  have  "  levelled-up  "  his  views  to  the  times. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  fairly  open  to  criticism  for  having  dwelt 
so  little  upon  Laud's  Erastianism,  and  I  may  as  well  state 

his  scheme  of  Church  polity,  for  his  it  largely  was,  grew  up  afresh  out  of  his 
tomb,  and  took  effect  at  the  Restoration." — Romanes'  Lecture,  1892.  By  the 
Right  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  M.P. 


SE*7x.645']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  475 

candidly  that  the  cause  of  my  hesitation  in  doing  so  has 
been  that  I  have  felt  some  doubts  whether  he  would  have 
been  such  a  keen  advocate  for  kingly  rule  in  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  had  not  the  particular  king  with  whom  he  had  most 
to  do  been  singularly  subservient  to  ecclesiastical  rule.  In 
short,  during  Laud's  prosperity,  he  told  the  king  what  to  tell 
him  to  do,  and  then,  if  complaints  were  made,  he  said  to  the 
complainers  that  it  had  been  the  king's  doing.  James  I.  had 
not  sympathised  with  Laud's  high  views,  and  at  the  risk  of 
offending  him,  Laud  tried,  nor  altogether  without  success, 
to  elevate  those  of  James  ;  but  he  did  not  pander  to  the 
religious  opinions  of  the  "  Head  of  the  Church,"  and  conse 
quently  never  fully  obtained  James's  confidence.  I  do  not 
deny  that  Laud  was  an  Erastian  ;  nay,  I  clearly  perceive  his 
Erastianism  in  many  details  of  his  history  ;  but,  to  my  mind, 
this  is  one  of  his  characteristics  to  which  somewhat  undue 
prominence  has  been  given,  and  I  feel  pretty  certain  that  it 
was  never  his  intention  that  the  Established  Church  of 
England  should  be  governed  so  much  by  Car.  Rex  as  by 
Guil.  Cant. 

I  must  pause  in  my  own  criticisms  on  Laud  to  notice 
two  or  three  which  were  passed  immediately  after  his 
death  by  his  contemporaries.  One  of  them  consists  of  a 
poem  of  ninety  lines,  entitled  an  "  Elegy  upon  the  life  and 
death  of  Bishop  Laud  of  Canterbury."  It  begins1  :  — 

"  Can  Britain's  Patriarchal  Peer  expire, 
And  bid  the  world  good  night,  without  a  choir 
Of  Saints  to  sing  his  requiem,  and  toll 
A  blessing  bell  unto  his  dying  soul  ? 
Shall  he  steal  to  his  rest  thus  ?  and  not  have 
A  blazing  star  to  light  him  to  his  grave  ; 
Nor  warning  *  Pace  !'  no  volley — shot  of  thunder 
From  Heaven's  artillery,  to  strike  with  wonder, 
To  ring  alarums  in  the  world's  dull  ear 
And  rend  the  universe  with  panic  fear." 

The  thing  is  too  long  to  quote  at  length  :  I  will  only  give 
a  few  lines,  taken  here  and  there. 

1  "  Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1644-5,  Preface,  pp.  xxiii.-v. 


476  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Irt?a7i645' 

"  How  sweetly  went'st  thou  hence  ;  thy  fluent  tongue 
Warbling  thy  [own]  swan-like  e.rpedicum  : 
Where  such  a  concourse  rolled,  as  they  had  been 
To  hear  the  raptures  of  some  seraphim." 

(Thou)  "  didst  press 

And  trample  death,  with  such  undauntedness 
As  if  thou  meanst  to  spurn  at  Fate  and  spit 
Defiance  in  death's  face,  and  welcome  it." 

"  Thy  scaffold  was  thy  Church,  and  we  may  please 

Term  it,  a  chapel  (as  some  do)  of  Ease  ; 

There  pouring  forth  thyself  to  Syon's  King, 

Thyself  vvert  both  high  priest  and  th'  offering  ; 

An  offering  to  the  Almighty,  since  thy  late 

Sad  decollation  doth  conduplicate 

Thy  triumphs  with  thy  Saviour  ;  who  didst  list 

And  Canonize  thee  an  Evangelist. 

Thus  hast  thou  left  us,  only  to  lay  down 
And  change  thy  mitre  for  a  glorious  crown." 

All  the  poetry  written  about  him,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
was  not  quite  in  the  same  tone.  Here  is  a  verse  from  another,1 
written  just  before  his  execution  :— 

"  Take  with  you  Bishop  La[u]d 
That's  Canterbury 
Trotting  upon  a  jade 
Soon  to  the  ferry. 
Advance  ye  Charon 
With  a  good  freight, 
When  ye  are  every  one 
To  his  boat  brought." 

Here  is  yet  another 2 : — 

"  My  little  Lord  [Laud]  methinks  it's  strange 
You  should  induce  so  great  a  change 
In  such  a  little  space  ; 
You  that  so  proudly  th'  other  day 
Did  rule  and  the  King's  country  sway, 
Must  trudge  to  know  the  other  place  ; 
Remember  now  from  whence  you  came 
And  that  the  grandsires  of  your  name 
Were  dressers  of  old  cloth  ;  " 

V'Cal.  Sta.  Pa.  Dom.,"  1644-5,  p.  280.  ~  Ib. 


Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  477 

"  Within  six  years  six  ears  have  been 
Cropt  off  [most]  worthy  men  and  grave 
For  speaking  what  was  true  ; 
But  if  the  subtle  head  and  ears 
Can  satisfy  these  six  of  theirs 
Expect  what  is  your  due. 
Poor  people  of  late  have  felt  your  rod, 
Give  Laud  to  the  Devil  and  praise  to  God 
For  freeing  them  from  thrall  ; 
Your  little  Grace  for  want  of  Grace 
Must  lose  the  Patriarchal  place, 
And  have  no  grace  at  all." 

After  such  quotations  as  these,  I  feel  it  incumbent  upon 
myself  once  more  to  vindicate  my  hero  from  the  charge  of 
Popery.  I  can  see  no  reason  for  doubting  the  sincerity  of 
his  ardent  professions  of  Protestantism  in  his  speech  on  the 
scaffold.  From  the  earliest  times  of  the  Anglican  Church 
Establishment  to  this  very  moment,  High-Churchmen  have 
been  accused  of  being  in  league  with  Rome,  of  furthering  the 
interests  of  Rome,  of  being  Romanists  at  heart,  and,  for  the 
most  part,  very  unjustly.  People  of  every  school  of  thought 
except  their  own,  and  most  of  all  Catholics,  see  how  illogical 
is  their  position  ;  but  they  are  blind  to  it  themselves.  They 
believe  themselves  to  be  in  the  Catholic  Church ;  they  acknow 
ledge  "  Roman  "  Catholics  to  be  a  branch  of  the  Church,  or  a 
sister  Church,  or  a  local  Church  ;  but  only  as  a  rotten  branch, 
as  a  fallen  sister,  or  as  a  local  establishment  which  has  no 
business  away  from  home.  Catholics  would  be  as  eager  as 
they  are  themselves  to  clear  Anglicans  of  "  Romanism."  A 
good  Puritan,  who  had  an  intense  personal  love  of  his 
"  Saviour  " — a  form  of  piety  which  has  much  in  common  with 
the  Catholic  devotion  to  the  Sacred  Heart — may  have  been 
quite  as  "  near  to  Rome  "  as  Archbishop  Laud,  or  even  very 
much  nearer,  for  that  matter ;  just  as,  to-day,  an  Evangelical 
clergyman,  preaching  true  contrition,  may  be  really,  but 
unknowingly — how  angry  he  would  be  if  he  did  know- 
united  to  the  "  soul "  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  while  a 
Ritualist,  with  a  Roman  chasuble  on  his  back  and  a  golden 
thurible  full  of  the  very  choicest  incense  in  his  hand,  may  be 


478  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud. 

exceedingly  foreign  to  it.  But  this  neither  of  the  great 
parties  in  the  Anglican  Church  ever  recognises  or  realises. 

As  in  the  nineteenth  century,  so  also  in  the  seventeenth, 
the  Anglican  Church,  as  a  body,  did  not  know  either  what 
it  was,  or  what  it  wanted.  True,  it  had  its  creeds,  it  had 
its  articles  of  religion,  it  had  its  liturgy ;  but  then,  as  now, 
some  of  its  ministers  interpreted  them  in  one  way,  some  in 
another ;  its  various  parties  attributed  its  origin  to  very 
different  sources ;  this  section  of  its  clergy  stating  that 
it  was  Protestant,  that  section  that  it  was  Catholic,  a 
third  section  that  it  was  not  exactly  one  or  the  other, 
yet  partly  both ;  and,  with  regard  to  its  wants,  some  main 
tained  that  its  best  interests  lay  in  a  higher  ceremonial 
and  an  increasing  conformity  to  the  ancient  usages  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  while  others  asserted  that  its  only  hope 
rested  in  the  eradication  of  the  last  vestige  of  the  papal  rags. 
These  divisions  of  the  Anglican  Church  have  ever  been  in 
conflict  since  her  foundation,  and  have  prevented  it  from 
knowing  its  own  mind,  its  beginning,  its  ends,  or  its  wants. 
In  one  of  the  throes  of  this  perpetual  agony,  Laud  fell.  He 
was  devoid  of  that  spirit  of  compromise  which  is  the  very 
essence  of  the  Church  to  which  he  belonged  ;  he  failed  to 
appreciate  the  comprehensiveness  which  some  of  its  modern 
bishops  declare  to  be  one  of  its  greatest  beauties,  and,  unlike 
High-Churchmen  of  our  own  time,  he  tried  to  insert  the  thick 
end  of  the  wedge  where  he  ought  to  have  applied  the  thin. 

Possibly  Laud  might  have  succeeded  better  if  he  had  had 
a  judicious  and  a  popular  wife  to  soothe  his  feelings  when 
ruffled,  to  laugh  him  out  of  his  little  idiosyncrasies,  and  to 
counteract  his  own  unconscious  efforts  at  making  himself 
unpopular.  With  Catholic  priests  the  case  is  very  different ; 
their  whole  position  is  apart  from  that  of  the  parson,  and  their 
duties  differ  as  much  from  his  as  do  their  doctrines.  It  is  true 
that  the  Catholic  Church  allows  its  priests,  in  certain  localities 
and  under  certain  rites,  to  marry,  and  that  there  are  married 
Catholic  priests  at  this  moment — in  the  Lebanon,  for  instance 
— but  it  is  not  found,  as  a  rule,  to  be  a  satisfactory  arrange 
ment,  and  a  married  clergy  would  not  be  liked  by  the  laity 


45']  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  479 

any  more  than  by  the  clerical  authorities  at  Rome.  In  parson- 
dom,  on  the  other  hand,  a  clergyman  is  but  half-fledged  until 
he  is  a  married  man,  and  it  may  be  that  if  Laud  had  had 
a  sensible  wife,  she  might  have  prevented  the  abolition  of 
episcopacy  and  the  decapitation  of  her  husband. 

I  can  find  nothing  in  the  writings  of  any  unprejudiced 
historian  of  Laud,  or  in  any  unbiassed  contemporary  evidence, 
to  lead  me  to  consider  him  other  than  a  well-meaning  man  ; 
my  readers,  I  hope,  will  agree  with  me  in  believing  him  to 
have  been  an  honest  one ;  nor  can  there  be  two  opinions  on 
the  question  whether  he  put  the  interests  of  the  Church  to 
which  he  belonged,  and  the  king  whom  he  served,  before  his 
own.  Ambitious  he  was,  without  doubt,  but  his  love  of 
power  was  much  more  strongly  developed  than  his  love  of 
place ;  and  if  he  loved  wealth,  he  used  it  generously  enough 
in  assisting  in  the  improvements  at  St  John's  College,  the 
repairs  of  St  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  enrichment  of  the 
Bodleian  Library,  the  erection  of  alms-houses  in  his  native 
town  of  Reading,  in  other  works  of  charity,  and  in  his 
hospitalities  at  his  palace  of  Lambeth  and  elsewhere. 

He  certainly  did  not  owe  his  successes  in  life  to  the  charms 
of  either  his  appearance,  his  manner,  or  his  voice  ;  he  was  no 
great  orator,  and  his  literary  style  was  stiff"  and  ungraceful, 
although  he  lived  in  the  days  of  such  prose  writers  as  Bacon, 
Clarendon,  Hobbes,  Burton,  Brown,  and  Chillingworth,  and 
of  such  poets  as  Shakespeare  and  Milton  ;  neither  did  he 
win  his  way  in  the  world  by  the  subtilty  of  his  tact  or  the 
brilliancy  of  his  statesmanship,  in  both  of  which  he  was 
singularly  deficient ;  but  he  obtained  respect  and  confidence 
in  high  places  by  the  certainty  with  which  he  knew  his  own 
mind,  by  his  immense  power  of  will,  and  by  his  unwavering 
honesty  of  purpose. 

It  is  true  that,  as  Clarendon  and  others  say  of  him,  he  was 
generally  anything  but  obsequious  to  great  people,  that  he 
was  often  rude  to  them,  and  that  he  never  hesitated  to  get 
them  punished  if  he  caught  them  tripping ;  but  he  chose  a 
few  mighty  potentates,  almost  worshipped  them  in  word  and 
work,  and  was  prepared  to  sacrifice  everybody  else's  interests, 


480  Life  of  Archbishop  Laud.  [Stra7Il645' 

and  even  his  own,  to  theirs.  We  may  observe  the  first  symp 
tom  of  this  in  his  consenting  to  marry  his  earliest  great 
patron,  the  Earl  of  Devonshire,  against  his  own  conscience, 
and  more  still  in  his  conduct  towards  Buckingham,  Charles  I., 
and  Wentworth. 

If  Anglicans  should  ever  think  of  canonizing  Laud — I 
once  read  a  little  book  in  which  such  an  idea  was  mooted — 
they  will  find  an  Advocatus  Diaboli  ready  made  in  Prynne. 
The  question  of  Laud's  personal  sanctity  would  be  a  delicate 
one  for  a  writer  professing  a  different  religion  to  enter  upon  ; 
but  if  it  should  be  said  that  his  period  was  not  one  remark 
able  for  Christian  holiness,  or  that  his  piety  was  remarkable 
for  his  times,  I  would  reply  that  he  lived  in  the  days  of  that 
great  mystic,  St  Teresa,  of  St  Charles  Borromeo,  of  St 
Aloysius,  of  St  John  of  the  Cross,  of  St  Philip  Neri,  the 
founder  of  the  Oratorians  ;  of  St  Camillus  of  Lellis,  the  founder 
of  a  great  order  of  men-nurses  ;  of  St  Rose  of  Lima,  the  first 
canonized  saint  of  America ;  of  the  charming  St  Francis  of 
Sales ;  of  his  disciple,  St  Jane  Francis  of  Chantal ;  of  St  Peter 
Claver,  "  the  Apostle  of  the  Negroes "  ;  of  the  gentle  and 
charitable  St  Vincent  of  Paul,  and  of  many  others,  while, 
close  at  home,  he  may  have  almost  seen  some  of  the  lately 
beatified  English  martyrs  pouring  forth  their  blood  for  their 
faith.  "  And,"  I  can  imagine  my  readers  saying,  "  he  poured 
forth  his  own  for  his  faith."  Nay,  he  was  made  to  pour  it 
forth  for  encouraging  "  Romanism,"  whereas  he  died  profess 
ing  himself  the  best  of  Protestants. 

Let  us  not  dispute  over  this.  He  died  a  brave  man,  I  hope 
a  good  one,  and,  take  him  all  in  all,  he  may  be  said  to  have 
been  an  historical  character  of  whom  "  conformable  "  people 
have  every  reason  to  feel  proud,  while  even  "  Romish 
recusants  "  may  admire  him  as  a  well-intentioned,  straight 
forward,  and  manly  Englishman. 


THE  END. 


INDEX. 


ABERGUILLE,  Laud's  palace  as  Bp. 
of  St  David's,  1 14. 

Abbott,  Archp.,  Master  of  Un.  Coll. 
Ox.,  23,  27  ;  Opposes  Laud's 
elect,  for  Pres.  of  St  John's, 
49  ;  Encourages  marr.  of  Pcess. 
Eliz.  with  Elector  Palatine,  54  ; 
Homicide  by,  73  ;  Objects  to 
Spanish  Alliance,  88  ;  Scolds 
Laud,  92  ;  Suspended  by  Kg., 
134;  Death,  169.  See  also 
50,  51. 

Abbott,  Bro.  of  Archp.,  Preaches 
against  Laud,  36,  54-5. 

Accident  in  The  Tower,  Laud's, 
401  seq. 

Adderley  Chapel  case,  229  seq. 

Ague,  Laud's,  in  the  Tower,  388. 

Abigenses,  27. 

All  Hallows,  Barking,  Church  of, 
Laud  buried  first  at,  470. 

Allison  sentenced,  by  Laud,  43. 

Almanack,  Beales,  152. 

Altar,  High,  at  St  Peter's,  Rome, 
The  Celebrant  at,  faces  nave 
and  congregation,  220. 

Amsterdam,  356. 

Anagrams,  144,  186,  294. 

Andrews,  Bp.,  19  ;  Private  Chapel, 
19-20  ;  Hears  confessions,  103  ; 
Used  wafers  for  communion, 
20-41  ;  Death  of,  127. 

Andrews,  Bp.  of  St,  167. 

Anglicanism,  478. 

Angouleme,  Bp.  of,  283. 

Antidotum  Lincolniense,  154. 

Appello  Caesarem,  109  seq. 

Apostolical  Succession,  18,  38,  210, 

443-4- 

Aquaviva,  General  of  the  Jesuits, 
condemns  conspiracies  of 
Catholics  in  England,  32. 

Arabic  MSS.  given  by  Laud  to  Ox 
ford,  341. 


Archbishop  of  Cant.,  Laud  made, 
169. 

Archdeacon,  Laud  made  an  (of 
Huntingdon),  54. 

Arches,  Court  of,  230. 

Archpriest,  The,  condemns  Gun 
powder  Plot,  34. 

Argyle,  Earl  of,  322. 

Armada,  The  Spanish,  10,  11,  24. 

Armagh,  Archp.  of,  383. 

Arminianism,  99,  100,  101. 

Armstrong,  Archie,  the  Court 
Jester,  317  seq. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  353  seq. 

Articles  of  Impeachment  against 
Laud,  Summary  of,  425  seq. 

Articles,  The  Thirty-nine,  227. 

Arundel,  Earl  of  165,  256. 

Arundel,  Lady,  "  A  strenuous  she- 
champion  of  the  Popish  re 
ligion,"  413. 

Asaph,  St,  Bp.  of,  182,  184. 

Ascham,  Roger,  4. 

Aylett,  Dr,  147. 

Ayry,  Dr,  His  quarrel  with  Laud,  36. 

BACON,  Francis,  123,  365. 

Baines'  Life  of  Laud,  40. 

Balfore,  Sir  W.,  Lieutenant  of  The 

Tower,  384,  441. 
Ballads  against  Laud  sold  in  the 

streets,  373. 
Bancroft,  Bp.  254. 
Baptism,    contest     as    to,   of    the 

Prince,  145. 
Barberini,  395,  396. 
Barlow,  Bp.,  18. 
Bartholomew,  Massacre  of,  26. 
Bassompierre,  12^. 
Bastwick,  204-5,  37 *• 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  95,  259. 
Bedell,    Bp.,    brought    Archp.    of 

Spalatro  to  England,  60. 
Bellarmin,  27,  112,  410. 


2  II 


482 


Index. 


Benson,  Mr,  on  Laud's  style,  47  ; 
Takes  opposite  view  to  Dr 
Hook  about  Laud's  "  Con 
ference  with  Fisher."  His 
description  of  Laud's  last  visit 
to  Lambeth,  375  ;  numerous 
other  references. 

Bible,  Genevan,  296-7. 

Bilson,  Bp.  of  Winchester,  49. 

Bishop,  Name  and  Thing,  39. 

Bishop,  Laud  made  a,  68  scq.  ; 
said  to  have  been  at  Williams's 
suggestion,  ib. 

Bishops,  Thirteen  imprisoned,  392  ; 
Released  and  again  imprisoned, 

399- 

Bishops,  Laud  offends  the,  223. 

Black  Rod,  Usher  of.  See  Maxwell. 

Blackwell,  Fr.,  Archpriest  in 
England,  32. 

Blount,  Charles,  28. 

Bodleian  Library.     See  Bodley. 

Bodley,  Sir  Thos.,  52  seq. 

Bohemia,  King  of,  Death  of,  164. 

Bohemia,  Queen  of,  Coronation,  65  ; 
Dethroned,  66 ;  Her  corre 
spondence  with  Laud,  254  seq. 

Bolsover  Castle,  Festivities  at,  259.  j 

Book  of  Common  Prayer  abolished, 

434- 

Book  of  Sports.      See  Sports. 

Boswell,  Sir  W.,  English  Minister 
at  the  Hague,  413. 

Bothaw,  St  Mary's,  Seats  at,  221. 

Bowyer,  Lodowick,  Slandered  Laud 
and  severely  punished,  222  seq. 

Bramhall,  226. 

Brecknock,  Laud  preaches  at,  114. 

Bridge,  The  Rev.,  would  not  con 
form,  183. 

Brigstock,  Vicar  of,  locks  in  his 
congregation  to  hear  him 
preach,  207. 

Bristol,  Bp.  of,  357. 

Bristol,  Earl  of,  quarrels  with  Buck 
ingham,  127. 

Brook,  Lord,  Wishes  destruction 
of  St  Paul's,  380  ;  Killed,  404. 

Brown,  Counsel  for  the  prosecution 
at  Laud's  trial,  448  seq.  and 
elsewhere. 

Buckeridge,  Laud's  tutor,  15,  23  ; 
President  of  St  John's,  48. 


Buckhurst,  Lord  Treasurer,  became 
Chancellor  of  Oxford,  15. 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  His  influence 
in  raising  Laud  to  the  Episcopal 
bench,  69,  70,  71  ;  Friendship 
with  Laud,  81  seq. ;  Illness,  93  ; 
Enmity  towards  Bristol,  127  j 
Extravagance  in  dress,  ib.\ 
Love  for  Anne  of  Austria,  ib.\ 
Letters  as  to  his  unfaithfulness 
from  his  wife,  130  seq.\  His 
expedition  to  the  Isle  of  Rhe, 
\y>seq.\  His  assassination,  140 
seq. ;  Many  other  references. 

Buckingham,  Duke  of,  Marriage  of 
his  daughter,  249. 

Building,  Laud's  love  of,  254. 

Bullets,    Silver,    Lady   Hamilton's, 

335- 

Burgoyne,  Mr,  139. 
Burial  of  Laud,  470. 
Burton,  204-5,  371. 
Butts,  Dr,  Vice-Chan,  of  Cambridge, 

Suicide  of,  163. 


CADIZ,  Expedition  to,  292. 

Calvinism,  98-101. 

Cambridge.     Sec  Butts. 

Campion,  Fr.,  7,  25. 

Candidate  for  Ordination,  unfit,  1 16. 

Canons,  The,  354,  358  seq. 

Canterbury,  Archbishopric  pro 
mised  to  Laud,  125  ;  given  to 
him,  169. 

Canterbury,  Province  of,  Accts., 
181  seq. 

Canterbury  Cathedral  profaned. 

Capuchin,  129,  178,  182. 

Cardinal's  Hat,  said  to  have  been 
offered  to  Laud,  172  seq.  and 
elsewhere. 

Carey,  Lucius.     See  Falkland. 

Carey,  Anne  and  Elizabeth, 
207. 

Carmarthen,  117. 

Cashell,  Bp.  of,  226. 

Casu  necessitatis,  In,  443-4. 

Catesby,  33  seq. 

Catholic  Belief,  472. 

Chancellorship  of  Oxford,  Laud  ob 
tains  the,  148  ;  He  resigns  it, 
389- 


Index. 


483 


Chapel   at   Aberguille,    Laud   con-  ' 
secrates,  115;  Queen  Henrietta,  | 
117    seq.\    Laying    foundation 
stone  of  her,  164  ;  Opening  of,  ' 
283. 

Charost,  Comte  de,  Van  Tromp 
writes  to,  338. 

Charles  I.  goes  to  Spain  with  Buck 
ingham,  87  seq.;  Accession,  j 
102  ;  Marriage,  103  ;  Un-  | 
pleasantness  with  Queen  about 
her  religion  and  attendants, 
117  seq.}  Coronation,  121  ;  j 
Chides  bishops,  124  ;  Goes  j 
with  Laud  to  Scotland,  166 
seq. ;  His  love  of  the  fine  arts, 
260  seq. ;  Comparisons  with 
Laud,  ib.\  Visits  Laud  at  Ox 
ford,  267  seq.}  Starts  with  an 
army  to  attack  the  Scots,  333 
seq.\  First  unpleasantness  with 
Laud,  359  ;  Laud  disapproves 
of  his  conduct  towards  Straf- 
ford,  369,  380-1  ;  His  faithless 
ness  to  Stratford,  381-2  ;  Yields 
the  Liturgy  to  the  control  of 
the  Parliament,  398 ;  Orders 
priests  to  be  martyred,  402  ; 
Declares  his  Protestantism  im 
mediately  before  communicat 
ing,  418-19  ;  Gives  a  Free 
Pardon  to  Laud  before  his 
trial,  424  ;  His  conduct  to 
wards  Laud  contrasted  with 
Laud's  towards  him,  467 ;  Ab 
solved  from  the  charge  of 
Popery  by  Laud  on  the 
scaffold,  ib. 

Chevreuse,  Duchess  of,  "  Fair,  but 
paints  foully,"  119. 

Chillingworth,  161  seq.,  281,  479. 

Chorister,  A,  bribed  at  St  Paul's 
Cathedral  to  sing  something 
not  in  the  day's  service,  310. 

Christmas  Day,  Fast  on,  453. 

Churches,  Foreign  Protestant.  Sec 
Protestant. 

Churchwarden,  Laud's  father  a,  5. 

Clara,  Santa,  438-9. 

Clarendon,  His  opinion  of  Laud 
and  his  actions,  43,  169  seq., 
436,  455  ;  Numerous  other 
references. 


Clerk  of  the  Closet,  Laud  acts  as, 
IO3  >  Juxon  made,  164. 

Clotworthy,  Sir  J.,  Torments  Laud 
on  the  scaffold,  469. 

Coach,  Laud's  upset,  114. 

Coadjutor  wanted  by  Goodman, 
223-4. 

Coates's  History  of  Reading,  2,  5, 
12. 

Cock-fighting  in  a  church,  178. 

Collets,  344  seq. 

Committee-Chamber,  Ho.  of  Lords, 
Laud  teased  in,  432. 

Common-Prayer,  sec  Book  of. 

Commons,  Laud  summoned  before, 
449. 

Communion,  Laud  would  have 
forced  on  Non-Anglicans,  214. 

Communion-Tables,  Time  of  Laud, 
58,85,  178  seq.,  215,  226. 

Communion-Tables, Modern, clergy 
men  placing  them  as  in  pre- 
Laudian  times,  219. 

Con,  241,415. 

Concordance,  Ferrer's,  348. 

Conference  with  Fisher.  See 
Fisher. 

Confession,  Laud  encouraged,  42  ; 
Bp.  Andrews  heard,  103  ;  Ad 
vocated  by  the  High  Church 
clergy  in  Laud's  times,  179; 
Laud  became  confessor  to 
Buckingham,  81,  82. 

Consecration  of  churches  by  Laud, 

H5,  155- 

Converts,  207. 

Convocation,  358  seq.,  367. 

Convocation,  Subsidies  of  members 
of,  92. 

Corbet,  Sir  J.,  229  seq.)  437. 

Cork,  Earl  of,  and  his  monument  to 
his  wife,  188  seq. 

Coronation  of  Charles  I.  at  West 
minster,  120  seq.;  of  the  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  65. 

Cosin,  Bp.,  41. 

Cottington,  Lord,  250  seq.,  265,  267, 

395- 
Counsel    for    the     prosecution    at 

Laud's  trial,  422. 
Counsel  and    solicitor    refused    to 

Laud,  before  Commons,  449. 
Covenant,  The,  416  seq. 


484 


Index. 


Coventry,  221. 

Cranmer,  Archp.,  17,  38. 

Creed  Church,  St  Catherine,  Laud 

consecrates,  155. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  295-6,  434. 
Cuddeston,  254,  267. 
Cyprien,     Fr.,     Henrietta    Maria's 

chaplain,     on     the     Anglican 

clergy,  178^. 

DAVENANT,  Bp.  of  Salisbury,  239, 
352. 

David's,  St,  Laud  made  Bp.  of,  72  ; 
references  to,  75  ;  First  Visita 
tion,  85  ;  second,  114. 

Davies,  Lady  Eleanor,  144  seq.,  148, 
184-5,  3°5-6. 

Deacon,  Laud  made  a,  26. 

Dean  of  Gloucester,  Laud  made, 
58. 

Decalogue,  The,  painted  over  a 
communion-table  considered 
High  Church  in  Laud's  days, 
189. 

De  Domini s,  60  seq. 

Denmark  House,  145. 

Devonshire,  Earl  of,  28  scq. 

D'Estrades,  Count,  325  seq. 

Diary,    Laud's,  produced   at    trial, 

444-5- 

Diary,  his  last  entry  in,  454  (con 
stantly  quoted). 
Digby,  Sir  John,  53. 
Digby,  Sir  Kenelm,  272  seq.,  354. 
Digby,  Lady  Venetia,  273. 
Distinguishment    between    charges 

of  Treason  and  Misdemeanour, 

Laud  asks  for,  420. 
Divinity  Lectureship,  Laud  obtains, 

27. 
Divorced  woman,  Laud  marries  a, 

to  his  patron,  29. 
Donne,  Dr,  351. 
Dorset,  Lord,  reproaches  Charles  I. 

for  going  to  Mass,   106 ;  also 

175,  204. 

Dreams,  Laud's,  95  seq.,  116,  133. 
Dress,  Laud's  usual,  197. 
Duck,  Dr,  390. 

Durham,  Bp.  of,  105,  119,  149. 
Durie,  John,  191  scq. 
Dutch  Protestants  in  England.    See 

Protestants. 


EARL  MARSHAL,  231. 

Edge  Hill,  Battle  of,  341,  402. 

Edinburgh,  Riots  at,  about  the 
Liturgy,  314  seq. 

Elegy  upon  Laud,  475-6. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  6,  15;  Her  visit 
to  Oxford,  270. 

England,  New,  297  seq.  ;  Moved  in 
the  House  of  Commons  that 
Laud  should  be  sent  there, 
405. 

Episcopacy,  Bill  for  abolishing  in 
Scotland,  336 ;  in  England, 
404. 

Erastianism,  Laud's,  474-5. 

Essex,  Earl  of,  15,  27,  28,  416. 

Et  Cetera  Oath,  The,  362-3. 

Evangelical  Alliance,  Laud  at 
tempts  an,  191. 

Exchequer,  Laud  made  a  Commis 
sioner  of,  249. 

Executions  of  Essex,  27  ;  Laud,  460 
seq.  ;  actual,  470  ;  Raleigh,  59  ; 
Five  in  six  weeks,  460. 

Exeter  Coll.,  Oxford,  Sermon 
against  Laud  at,  148. 

Exeter,  Bishop  of,  158,  357. 

FAITH,  Good,  Catholic  Doctrine 
on,  471. 

Falkland,  Viscount,  353  seq. 

Falkland,  Lady,  484. 

Familists,  180. 

Fast,  Public,  105. 

Fast,  on  Christmas-Day,  453. 

Father,  Laud's,  a  tailor,  I  ;  a 
churchwarden,  5.  . 

Felton,  the  assassinator  of  Buck 
ingham,  140. 

Ferrar,  Nicholas,  143  seq. 

Fisher,  Father,  alias  Percy  or 
Piercy,  76-7. 

Fisher,  Conference  with,  27,  37,  62, 
63  ;  account  of,  76  seq. 

Finch,  Lord  Keeper,  359. 

Fines,  262. 

Foreign  Protestants  in  England. 
See  Protestants. 

Foreign  Protestant  clergy  given  ap 
pointments  in  Anglican  Church 
without  re-ordination,  40,  41. 

Forma  Pauperis,  In,  Laud  desired 
to  plead,  419. 


485 


Fox,  William  The,  342. 

Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs,  346^7. 

Framstow,  Sir.T.,  his  speech  against 
Laud  and  the  "  et  cetera  "  oath, 
362. 

Frankfort,  Diet  of,  191,  194. 

French  Protestants.  See  Protest 
ants. 

Froude,  16,  25. 

Fulham,  146  scq. 

Funeral,  Queen's,  64-5  ;  King 
James's,  103  ;  Laud's,  470. 

GARNET,  Fr.,  32  scq. 
Gee,  The  Informer,  245. 
Gladstone,  The  Right  Hon.  W.  E., 

329,  473  ;  title  page. 
Glasgow,  riots  at  about  the  Liturgy, 

316. 

Gloucester,  Laud  made  Dean  of,58. 
Gloucester,   Bp.    of,    Miles   Smith, 

Quarrels  with  Laud,  58. 
Goldwell,  Bp.,  One  of  the  last  of  the 

old  real  bishops,  9. 
Good  Faith,  Catholic  teaching  as  to 

those  who  die  in,  471. 
Goodman,  Bp.,  of  Gloucester,  223  ; 

358  seq. 

Grammar  Reader,  Laud  made,  25. 
Green,  J.  R.,  209. 
Greenway,  Fr.,  33. 
Green's  Norton,  158. 
Gregory's,  St,  Church,  217. 
Grotius,  378. 
Gunpowder  Plot,  31  scq. 

HABERNFIELD,  Andreas   ab,    173, 

241  ;  "Rome's  Master  Piece,"  | 

413  seq. 

Racket,  Bp.,  68. 
Hague,  The,  413  scq. 
Hales,  304  scq. 
Hall,  Bp.,  239. 
Hamilton,   Marquess  of,   321,  335, 

346. 

Hamilton,  Marchioness  of,  335. 
Hammersmith,  146  scq. 
Hampden,  John,  263  scq. 
Hanged,    Laud  condemned   to  be, 

456. 
Harbourne,  The  modern  Vicar  of, 

moves    his    communion-table, 

219. 


Harvey,  Dr,  340-1. 

Hassall,  Dean  of  Norwich,  Protegd 
of  Queen  of  Bohemia,  225. 

Hatton,  Ld.  Chancellor,  15. 

Haywood,  or  Heywood,  or  Hay- 
ward,  Laud's  chaplain,  244, 
285-6,  456. 

Henrietta  Maria,  Marriage  and 
arrival  in  England,  103  scq. ; 
Her  chapel,  attendants,  and 
quarrels  with  Charles,  117  scq.  ; 
Refuses  to  attend  the  corona 
tion,  121  ;  Threatened  im 
peachment  of,  393  ;  Flies  from 
England,  394 ;  Negotiations 
with  Cardinal  Barberini,  397. 
See  also  Chapel,  The  Queen's. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  26. 

Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  Death  of, 

Herbert,  George,  350  seq. 
J1  Heylin,  Peter,  153  ;  His  account  of 
Laud's    trial    contrasted    with 
Prynne's,      435       (Constantly 
quoted). 

I  Hinde,  Takes  notes  of  Laud's  ser 
mon  on  the  scaffold,  458. 
i  Histrio-mastrix,  201. 

Hobbes,  354. 

Hocus  Pocus,  1 80. 

Holies,  143. 

Hollys  Denzell  conveys  impeach 
ment  of  Laud  from  Commons 
to  Bar  of  Ho.  of  Lords,  374. 

Holywood,  Coronation  at,  167. 

Honye-Lacye,  116. 

Hook,  Dean,  2,  34,  77,  173. 

Howard,  Sir  R.,  Paramour  of  Lady 
Purbeck,  306. 

Huguenots,  323. 

Humphrey,  23. 

Hurst,  117. 

IGNATIUS,  St,  7. 

Illness,  Laud's  longest,  145. 

Immaculate  Conception,  The,  283. 

Immoral  clergy,  178. 

Impeachment  of  Laud,  374. 

Incense,  Used  by  Andrews,  20. 

Income,  Laud's,  227. 

Indians  persecuted  by  New   Eng- 

landers,  298. 
Indulgences,  "Sale  of,"  172. 


486 


Index. 


Innovations  in  Doctrine  and  Dis 
cipline,  379. 

Inns  of  Court,  Laud's  disputes  with, 
177. 

Intention  not  considered  necessaiy 
to  a  Sacrament  by  Laud,  40, 
411,412. 

Ireland,  186  and  elsewhere. 

Isham,  John  Etkins  of,  207. 

JAMES  L,  51  ;  Conversation  with 
Williams  about  making  Laud  a 
Bishop,  68  seq.  ;  Death  and 
notes  on  his  character,  religious 
views,  &c.,  97  seq. 

Jester,  The  Court,  317  seq. 

Jesuits,  Law  against  and  other 
priests,  8. 

Jewell,  9. 

Johnson,  Chaplain  to  Queen  of 
Bohemia,  355. 

John's,  St,  n,  12  ;  New  Buildings 
at,  157  ;  Entertainment  to 
King  and  Queen  at,  268  ; 
Laud's  bones  lie  at,  470. 

Jones,  Father  Leander,  O.S.B., 
245. 

Judges,  176. 

Juxon,  26  ;  Clerk  of  the  Closet,  164  ; 
Bp.  of  London,  264,  474. 

KEBLE,  353. 

Ken,  353. 

Kilmorey,  Lord,  230  seq. 

LABYRINTH,  Lawd's,  78  seq.t  410. 

Lambeth  Palace,  Attack  on,  342  ; 
Laud  visits  for  last  time,  374-5  ; 
Private  life  at,  197  seq. 

Last  hours,  Laud's,  456-9. 

Laud,  Birth  (1573),  2  ;  Fellow  of 
St  John's  (1593),  Ordained 
"Deacon"  (1600),  26;  Or 
dained  "Priest"  (1601),  26; 
Proctor  (1603),  27  ;  President 
of  St  John's  (1611),  49-51  ; 
Archdeacon  (1615),  54;  Dean 
(1616),  58;  Bishop  of  St 
David's  (1621),  68  ;  Bishop  of 
London  (1628),  130;  Chan 
cellor  of  Oxford  (1630),  148; 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
(1633),  169;  Impeached  and 


arrested  (1640),   374;  Sent  to 

the    Tower   (1641),    376    seq. ; 

Executed  (1645),  47°- 
Laying  foundation  stone  of  Queen's 

Chapel,  164. 
Layton  Ecclesia,  350. 
Leander,  Father,  245. 
Leicester,  as  Chancellor  of  Oxford, 

13- 

Leighton,  1 50  seq. 
Lent,  146. 

Lenthrop,  Laud's  servant,  279. 
Libels    against    Laud,    141-2,    293, 

373,  387- 

Lilburn,  J.,  294  seq. 

Lincoln,  Williams,  Bp.  of,  120, 122-3  5 
Trial  of,  299  seq.;  Release  of, 
370 ;  Imprisoned  again,  392. 
See  also  Williams. 

Lindsell,  Dr  Dean  of  Lichfield,  158. 

Little  Gidding,  344  seq. 

Liturgy,  The  Scotch,  311  seq. 

London,  Laud  made  Bishop  of,  130. 

Loudon,  Lord,  320. 

Louis  XIII.  of  France,  129. 

Louis  XIV.,  434. 

Lutheran,  doctrine  on  Real  Pre 
sence,  37. 

MACAULAY,  18,  328,  391. 

Mady,  Mr,  50. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  471. 

Manuscripts  given  by  Laud  to  Ox 
ford,  148. 

Marriage  of  Charles  and  Henrietta 
Maria,  103. 

Marriage  of  Earl  of  Devonshire  and 
Lady  Rich,  29. 

Marriage  of  priests  allowed  by  Cath. 
Ch.  under  certain  rites,  478. 

Marriage  in  the  Tower,  441. 

Marston  Moor,  Battle  of,  434. 

Martyrdoms,  of  Catholics,  9  and 
elsewhere. 

Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  Her  execu 
tion,  10. 

Mass,  Charles  I.  said  to  have  heard, 
1 06. 

Maurus,  Fr.,  O.S.B.,  50. 

Maxwell,  Usher  of  Black  Rod,  Laud 
committed  to  charge  of,  374. 

Maxwell,  Mrs,  Her  opinion  of  Laud, 
376. 


Index. 


487 


Mende,  Bp.  of,  118. 

Merchants,  English,  in  Holland, 
212-13. 

Merricke,  Dr,  390. 

Merry  Liturgy,  The,  294. 

Milton,  John,  46  ;  He  sneers  at 
Charles  I.  for  reading  Shakes 
peare,  260. 

Mitre  Hotel,  The,  Oxford,  a  resort 
of  Catholics,  282. 

Montague,  Dr,  and  the  Jesuits  and 
his  books,  107  seq.\  Made 
Bishop  of  Chichester,  in  seq.', 
His  negotiations  with  Panzani 
for  re-union  with  Rome,  236 
seq.  See  also  443-4. 

Montague,  Walter,  289-90,  413. 

Morse,  Fr.,  287  seq. 

Morton,  Bp.,  21,  239. 

Mother,  Death  of  Laud's,  26. 

Mounsen,  Sir  J.,  301. 

Mountain,  or  Montaigne,  Bp.,  138. 

Mulgrave,  147. 

NANTES,  Edict  of,  26. 

Natural  Sciences,  at  Oxford,  63-4. 

Needhams,  229  seq. 

Neil,  Archp.  of  York,  43,  46,  54, 

58  ;  Death  of,  367. 
Neri,  St  Philip,  24. 
New   Buildings,    St    John's    Coll., 

Oxford,  157. 
Newburgh,  Lord,  207-8. 
New  England,  297,  405. 
New  Gagg  for  an  Old  Gospel,  An, 

1 08  seq. 

Newman,  Cardinal,  353,  409. 
Newport,  Lady,  289,  413. 
Nicholas,  440  seq.,  and  elsewhere. 
Non-kneelants,  220. 
Northumberland,  Earl  of,  452. 
Nose,  Laud's,  bleeds,  447. 
Noy,  218,  231,  263. 
Nuremburg,  Church  at,  196. 

O.  AND  P.  SCHEDULE,  The,  102. 
Office,    The   Divine,   said    by    an 

Anglican  Bishop,  358. 
Orange,  The  Prince  of,  339. 
Oratorians,  24,  224. 
Orders,  Anglican.    See  Apostolical 

Succession. 
Ordination  of  Laud,  26. 


Orientation,  147. 

Oxford,  11-15  5  Parliament  at,  107  ; 
Laud  made  Chancellor  of, 
148  ;  Visit  of  King  and  Queen, 
267  ;  Laud  resigns  Chancellor 
ship,  389. 

Oyster  -  Boards  (Moveable  Com 
munion-Tables  called),  17. 

PACIFICATION,  The,  337. 

Paget,  J.,  172. 

Painted,  Said  that  Laud,  before  his 

execution,  470. 
Palatinate.  Laud  asks  his  clergy  to 

contribute  to  the  war  in,  75. 
Panzani,  236  seq. 
Paris,  Buckingham's  visit  to,  127. 
Pardon,  Written,  sent  to  Laud  by 

Charles  before  his  trial,  424. 
Parker,  Bp.,  18. 
Parliament  at  Oxford,  107. 
Parliament,  The,  of  1628,  136. 
Parliament,  The,  of  1640,  341,  366. 
Pasting-printing,  347. 
Patrick's  Cathedral,  St,  188. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  St,  Forced  Con 
tributions  to,  150,  171-2. 
Peers  who  passed   Ordinance    for 

Laud's  attainder,  454-5. 
Pembroke,  Lord,  Death  of,  147-8  ; 

His  hatred  of  Laud,  453-4. 
Penance,  Public,  Form  of,  308  seq. 
Pennington,  338  ;  As  Lieutenant  of 

the  Tower,  he  conducts  Laud 

to  execution,  459. 
Persian    MSS.    given  by  Laud  to 

Oxford,  341. 
Pestilence,  104,  259. 
Peters  tries  to  get  Laud  banished 

to  New  England,  405  ;  Teases 

him  at  the  House    of    Lords, 

and  preaches  against  him    in 

a      church      near      Lambeth, 

432. 

Pillory,  204-5,  and  elsewhere. 
Pine-martin  skins,  Laud  writes  to 

Wentworth   for   a    coat    lined 

with,  227. 

Plague.    See  Pestilence. 
Pococke  sent  by  Grotius  to  advise 

Laud  to  attempt  escape   from 

Tower,  378. 
Poems  upon  Laud,  475-6-7. 


488 


Index. 


Poets,  Their  influence  on  Angli 
canism,  353. 

Polyglots,  349. 

Popery,  Laud  not  guilty  of,  43,  45, 
417. 

Portland,  Death  of,  264. 

Portraits  of  Laud,  199. 

Poslingford,  The  Vicar  of,  206. 

Prayer,  for  Buckingham,  83. 

Prayer,  Laud's,  on  the  scaffold,  465, 
469. 

Prayers,  Laud's,  Mr  Benson  on, 
458. 

Preached  at  by  Abbott's  brother, 
Laud,  36-7,  54-5. 

Preached  at,  at  Exeter  Coll.,  Oxford, 
148. 

Preached  at  in  The  Tower,  402. 

Preached  at  by  Peters  near  Lam 
beth,  432. 

Presence,  Real,  see  Real. 

Prebend  of  Windsor,  Laud  made 
a,  67. 

Predestination,  90,  150. 

Presidentship  of  St  John's,  49,  51. 

Preston,  Fr.,  244. 

Priest's  orders,  so-called,  given  to 
Laud,  26. 

Prince,  A,  born  and  died  in  an 
hour,  145. 

Prince  Charles  goes  to  Spain,  87  seq. 

Prince  Charles  II.  born,  149. 

Prince  of  Wales,  Death  of  a,  53. 

Prince,  A  (The  Duke  of  York) 
born,  1 86. 

Princess  Elizabeth's  marriage  to 
Prince  Frederick,  Elector 
Palatine,  54. 

Printers,  150,  181. 

Proctor,  Laud  made,  27. 

Proctors,  disorderly,  159. 

Protestants,  French  and  Dutch, 
209,  442. 

Protestantism  of  Laud,  477. 

Protestantism  of  Charles  I.,  418-19. 

Province  of  Canterbury,  Accts.  of, 
181  seq. 

Prynne,  William,  201  seq.  ;  searches 
Laud's  person  and  rooms  in 
the  Tower,  406  seq.  ;  His 
account  of  Laud's  trial  con 
trasted  with  Heylin's,  435  ; 
Constant  quotations  from. 


Pulley  and  Pullen,  280-1. 
Purbeck,  Lady,  306  seq. 
Purgatory,  38. 
Puritans,  Bitterness  of,  16. 
Pursuivants,  50,  51. 
Pym,  368-9. 

QUARRELS     between     King     and 

Queen,  117  seq. 
Quakers,  298, 
Questions  to  Clergy,  85. 

RABBLE,    The     attack,     Lambeth 

Palace,  342. 
Rainold,  Dr,  President  of  Corpus 

Christi  Coll.,  Oxford,  a  strong 

Puritan,  23. 
Raleigh,  Sir  W.,  Execution  of, 

59- 

Reading  Abbey,  19. 
Reading,  Laud  built  almshouses  at, 

479- 
Reading,  Town  of  had  a  scholarship 

at  St.  John's  Coll.,  Oxford,  u. 
Reading,  Siege  of,  416. 
Real  Presence   in  the  Sacrament, 

Andrews  on,  19. 
Real     Presence,     Bp.    Goodman's 

sermon  on,  358. 

Real  Presence,  Laud  on,  409  seq. 
Recapitulation,  Laud's,  at  his  trial, 

446. 
Reconciliation    with    the    Catholic 

Church,  42,  236  seq. 
Remonstrance,  The,  136,  143. 
Reporter,  A,  at  Laud's  execution, 

468. 

Retentive  to  stay,  A,  17. 
Revell,  Dr,  an  immoral  clergyman, 

178. 

Reunion.     See  Reconciliation. 
Rhe,  siege  of,  131-2. 
Richardson,      Chief    Justice,      de 
nounces  The  Book  of  Sports, 

175  seq. 
Richelieu,  Cardinal,  323,  274,  339, 

340  ;  Death  of,  433. 
Rome,  24  ;  Question  whether  Laud 

sought  an  asylum  at,  395. 
Rome's  Masterpiece,  413  sey.t  446. 
Root    and    Branch    Petition,    The 

37i. 
Rosetti,  395. 


Index. 


489 


Roxburgh,  Lord,  saves  the  Bp.  of 
Edinburgh  from  the  mob  of 
women,  316. 

SABBATARIAN,   Laud  not  a  rigid, 

175- 

Sackville,  Sir  E.  63. 
Sacrament,  B.  Exposition  of,  283. 
Sacrament,  Intention  not  considered  ; 

necessary  to  a,  by  Laud,  40. 
Sacrament,    Received   not    fasting 

by  Fr.  Morse,  288. 
Sales,    St    Francois    de,    7  ;    His 

"  Devout  Life,"  285  scq. 
Salisbury's   Anti-Laudian    sermon, 

42. 

School,  Laud  at,  2,  3,  4. 
Scholarship    at    St    John's,    Laud 

obtains  a,  23. 
Scholastic  Philosophy  abolished  at 

Oxford,  14. 

Science  in  XVI Ith  Cent.,  63-4. 
Scotland,  Laud  taken  to  by  James  I., 

Scotland,  Visit   of  Charles  I.  and 

Laud  to,  1 66  seq. 

Scotland,  The  Liturgy  in,  31 1  scq. 
Search    for    Laud's   things    in   the 

Tower,  406  seq. 
Segar,  Sir  W.  Garter,  149. 
Seldon,  John,  205,  354. 
Sermon,  Laud's,  47. 
Sermon,  Preached   by  him  on  the 

scaffold,  460. 

Services,  Anglican,  length  of,  149. 
Shakespeare,  Death  of,  57  ;  Milton 

on,  260. 
Sherston,      Grandfather      of     W. 

Prynne,  201. 
Shingleton,  committed  for  ridiculing 

King  James's  "  Latinities." 
Ship  money,  263. 
Shotover,  Timber  from  the  woods 

of,  used  for  the  New  Buildings 

of  St  John's  Coll.,  157. 
Sibthorpe's,    Dr,    Sermon,   Archp. 

Abbott  suspended  for  refusing 

to   give   his  imprimatur  to   it, 

134- 

Sister,  Rome  considered  an  elder 
of  the  Angl.  Ch.  by  Laud, 

45- 
Slav  rite,  211,  212. 


Smart,  preaches  a  Puritanical  ser 
mon,  138-9. 
Smith,   Miles,    Bp.    of  Gloucester, 

furious  with  Laud,  his   Dean, 

58. 

Socinians,  355-6. 
South,  both    Laud  and  Charles  I. 

make  puns  on  his  name,  183. 
Spalatro,  Archp.  of,  60  seq. 
Spanish  Alliance,  attempted,  87  seq. 
Speculum  Mundj,  63-4. 
Spenser  on  state  of  the  Irish  clergy, 

1 86. 

Sports,  The  Book  of,  174  seq.,  222. 
Stanley,  Dean,  214,  313. 
StarChamber,43-4 ;  Leighton  before, 

151  ;  Bp.  Williams  before,  296 

seq.,  and  many  other  places. 
Stern,  Dr,  Laud's  chaplain,  attends 

him  on  the  scaffold,  468. 
Steward,  Laud's,  dies,  390. 
Stoniefield  Day,  315. 
Strafford,  Earl  of,  Wentworth  made, 

368  ;   Impeachment  of,  368-9  ; 

Trial,  380;  Interview  with  Laud 

on  way  to  his  execution,  383-4  ; 

Execution,  384  ;  Clarendon  on, 

385.     See  also  Charles  I. 
Succession.     See  Apostolical. 
Sudborough,  158. 
Superintendents,      The     Lutheran, 

considered   the  same  thing  as 

Bishops  by  Laud,  39. 
Superstitions  of  Laud,  96  seq.,  and 

elsewhere. 

Surplices,  19,  57,  179. 
Sweetness  and  Light,  354. 

TABLE,  Communion.  Sec  Com 
munion-Tables. 

Tables,  The  Four,  320. 

Taskites,  180. 

Taxes,  Necessity  of  a  Parliament  to 
impose,  340. 

Ten  Commandments.  See  De 
calogue. 

Thames,  Laud's  coach  sunk  in,  184. 

Thin,  Serjeant,  272. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  160,  325. 

Thomas,  St,  of  Aquinas,  353. 

Thunderstorm  on  arrival  of  King 
and  (2ueen  in  London,  104. 

Tobacco,  227. 


2  I 


490 


Index. 


Tolmach,  Sir  Lionel,  243. 
Tortoise,  Laud's  pet,  199. 
Tower,  Laud  committed  to  the,  377 

seq. 

Tower,  His  health  in  the,  388-9. 
Tower,  Marriages  in  the,  441. 
Tower  Hill,  459. 
Trade,  Laud  put  on  the  Committee 

of,  249. 

Traske,  John,  142. 
Traquair,  319  seq. 
Trent,  Council  of,  7. 
Tretire,  206. 
Trial,    Laud's,    properly    so-called, 

begins,  428. 
Trial,  Cost  of  each  day's  attendance 

at,  433- 

UNDERGRADUATE  LIFE,  Laud's,  23. 

Undergraduate,  An,  with  Romish 
leanings,  how  treated  in  Laud's 
times,  280-1. 

Union  of  Protestants,  Scheme  for  a 
great,  191  seq. 

Union  with  Rome.  See  Reconcilia 
tion. 

University  disputes  with  Civic 
Authorities  at  Oxford,  356-7. 

Ussher,  Archp..  292,  418. 

VANDYKE,  199,  259,  260. 

Vane,  Sir  H.,  221,  341,  369,  370,  385, 

437- 

Van  Tromp,  338-9. 
Virginia  Company,  The,  343. 
Visit  of  King  and  Queen  to  Oxford. 

267  seq. 
Visitation,    Archbishop's    right    of 

Visitation  at  the  Universities, 

.27.1< 
Visitations    of   St    David's,    Laud's 

first,  85  seq.  ;  His  second,   114 
seq. 

Wafers  used  by  Andrews,  20. 
Wafers  never  used  by  Laud,  41. 
Wales,  Laud  visits,  85  seq., 
Waller,  259,  354. 
Walloon  congregation,  A,  208. 


Walton,  Izaak,  351. 

War,  The  Thirty  Years',  160,  325. 

Watson,  one  of  the  Marian 
Bishops,  9. 

Weldon,  O.S.B.,  Chronological 
Notes  of,  50. 

Wells,  A  New  England  minister 
tries  to  get  Laud  banished 
there,  405 ;  Visits  and  abuses 
Laud  in  the  Tower,  421. 

Wentwort-h,  Lord,  150,  187,  226 
seq.,  328  seq.  See  Strafford. 

Westminster,  Laud  made  a  Pre 
bend  of,  66-7. 

White,  Sir  F.,  Founder  of  St  John's 
Coll.,  Oxford,  ii. 

Wickliffists,  27. 

Wife,  Want  of  a,  by  Laud,  478-9. 

Wilde,  Serjeant,  loses  patience  with 
the  Peers,  453. 

Wilde's,  Serjeant,  opening  speech 
at  Laud's  trial,  428. 

William,  St  of  Bourges,  458-9. 

Williams,  Lord  Keeper,  68 ;  Quarrel 
with  Laud,  91.  For  rest,  see 
Lincoln,  Bp.  of. 

Willoughby,  400. 

Wilton,  Laud  meets  George  Her 
bert  at,  351. 

Windebank,  145,  164  ;  made  Secre 
tary  of  State,  163,  362;  "A 
most  fierce  Papist,"  413. 

Wit,  De,  358- 

Witnesses  against  Laud  at  his 
trial,  437  seq. 

Woodstock,  The  Court  at,  145  and 
267: 

Wyatt,  Sir  F.,  The  Rebel,  n. 

YORK  MINSTER,  A  house  standing 
inside  it,  166. 

Young,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  or 
dained  Laud,  26. 

ZURICH,  The  Confession  of,  Bishop 
Jewell  held  to,  17. 

Zwinglius,  A  disciple  of  his  was 
Humphrey,  Regius  Professor 
of  Divinity  at  Oxford,  23. 


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